


True Lover's Knot

by TheWritingRaccoon158



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adventure Elements, Alternative Universe - RPG, Angst with a Happy Ending, Archery Apprentice Yams, Archery Master Tsukki, But:, I don't really want to spoil things, M/M, Rated M for later Chapters, Slow Build, Smith Daichi, Smithery Apprentice Suga, What's a good story without a bit of Angst?, really it's just a big classig RPG with Furudate's whole cast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:25:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 21,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingRaccoon158/pseuds/TheWritingRaccoon158
Summary: ✧･ﾟ:*Ch. 19 *:･ﾟ✧“Yaku”, the other introduced himself, “Glad to meet’cha. I’ve heard the town’s other archer’s not so… approachable.”“Everyone has happened to heard that, apparently”, Yamaguchi sighed and cursed the towns’ unalterable opinion of their sole local archer inwardly.But now I’m here, and I’ll change their view on Tsukki, I swear –“Oh, didn’t want to offend you”, Yaku said, and stopped his rummaging for a moment, “I’ve only heard our respective guild masters had some kinda mutual past, so…”“Mutual – what?” Yamaguchi frowned, and Yaku seemed to realize that he had said something he shouldn’t have said. “Who’s your guild’s master? What guild, anyways?”Merchants have guilds?A tale about Yamaguchi Tadashi being the protagonist of his very own adventure, his search for freedom, purpose, thrill and love for his pesky Archery Master, woven into classig RPG elements and a town where everyone has their own special story to tell.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just decided to turn my ridiculously extensive RPG-knowledge into something useful ヽ(。ゝω･)ﾉ☆;:*  
> The story's basic outline stands, and I know where I want to go with it, but some parts are still kinda wobbly...  
> I think the first chapter's a bit dull, as I'm not very good at introductions, but pleasepleaseplease continue reading, I had so much fun writing this, it literally flew outta my hands on during later chapters!  
> And there will be a looot of awesome storylines, and i sososo want you to read through everything! ヾ(_ _。）
> 
> Most of the classes, skills and overall concepts came from Final Fantasy (mostly from XIV), Dragon Quest, Skyrim, Fantasy Life, Dragon Age, The Witcher and a whole lot other RPG's. The town's layout is loosely based on the town of Nadoret from the fantastic game Drakensang: River of Time, because I always thought that Nadoret was the most basic city ever to start a grand RPG from.  
> Enjoy and comment, I would really appreciate it!

Yamaguchi, the level zero Nobody visited the average town of Hazeldrift to become an archer. Why he was here was nothing to argue about, he had made the decision as soon as his last day in school was over, and then he bid his parents and hometown farewell and chartered a ship down to the city were literally _everyone_ chose to begin their adventure nowadays.

A long time at home he had spent with searching through the massive guild- and job descriptions, imagined himself with a broadsword, daggers, maces, even a staff.

But nothing felt as perfect as a _bow_.

He thought about his inherent dexterity, his versatility and his agility, and how this would be a true benefit if he strove to be an archer. Sure, he could have been different, but with his mother coming from a long line of deft thieves and his father’s woodworking skills there was no way Yamaguchi would come out as something else. He did play with the thought of becoming a thief, too, even pondered over advancing to an assassin’s profession if he would be skilled enough one day, but even though he liked the image, he always felt a bit too lanky, a bit too noticeable, and way too less cunning.

Being an archer, yeah, that felt right. Drawing the bowstring until his fingers would hurt just the slightest bit; how the well-crafted arrow would be shot, how it would fly with just the slightest curve, hitting his enemy’s weak point spot-on, with Yamaguchi standing still miles away, and he would look so damn _good_.

He would be the weapon from behind, silent, invisible, killing his enemies without them even noticing him before he would tore their lights out. Sixty levels and more and he would enter his hometown’s history books – if he would ever visit there again. Hell, there would even be a sequel to his story if he would prove himself worthy!

_Draw your head out of the clouds_ he thought with a frown, _one step at a time, one level after the other._

He had to go to the town’s administration desk first to ask for the local archer. Not that he hadn't already learned his future master’s whereabouts, but this was just the way it had to go around here, and Yamaguchi was no one to complain.

He stepped forward, only two people separating him from the administrator’s desk, and he looked around, lazily, kinda bored, until his gaze fell onto a shiny, well-polished shield hanging on the wall, showing him his reflection.

He hadn't had much choices concerning his looks, so he had to roll with the somewhat too long nose, the silly freckles, and the odd, overall tiredness of his eyes. His hair was the one thing he could change, but now he realized that he had decided for the most casual hairstyle possible – a dark brunet color, undone, a bit messy and just long enough to curve around his earlobes, and he _absolutely_ needed to find out where the local hairdresser was to adjust his looks – provided that a haircut won't swallow his whole savings.

There was a brief bump against his shoulder, and Yamaguchi was torn out of his daydreams.

“Sorry”, the one behind him said with a bright voice, and when Yamaguchi turned around and saw a cheerful guy, hair a washed-out grey (probably a mod) and his eyes a light caramel brown. “The guy behind me won't stop shoving me.”

“No problem”, Yamaguchi said, deciding that he liked the grey-haired guy’s genuine friendliness. His smile was pretty endearing. “Your first day here, too?”

The grey-haired nodded. “Yep. Fresh outta the Tutorial.”

Yamaguchi showed him a brief smile, even if he himself thought that running through the boring Tutorial was just for the inexperienced, indecisive one’s.

“Oh, Sugawara’s the name”, the grey-haired stated with a grin, “But call me Suga.”

“Yamaguchi”, he introduced himself politely, and much to his delight the queue moved forwards. “Have you chosen your occupation already?”

“Oh”, Suga said, wrinkling his lips, “dunno yet. I thought about becoming a soldier, but I’m not really fond of that whole heavy armor-thing. I wanted to read the descriptions once more…”

“Yeah, that’s what I couldn’t stand, too”, Yamaguchi replied, smiling, liking the other one even more. “I want to become an archer.”

“That’s pretty vanilla”, Suga replied after an appreciating whistle, and when Yamaguchi raised him an eyebrow the other one laughed politely. “No offense, but there’re so many other things to be around here. Have you heard of the new DLC they’ve just announced?”

“Says the soon-to-be soldier”, Yamaguchi said with a grin, heart bumping against his chest when he thought about the night he had read about this, even though the three new jobs (necromancer, spell fencer, and – god behold – beast tamer) hadn't really sparked interest in him. But there was this veeery decent-looking elfish armor-set (coming in high res, raising dexterity up by 45 points and making him immune to nearly every kind of poison!), and the exact moment he would hit level 25 he would so damn rock this outfit – provided he would still be an archer then.

And provided he won't get too fat to fit into the skinny pants.

The queue moved forward once again, with Yamaguchi now being the next in line. He heard the administrator’s instructive voice, heard that the beginner sitting in front of him asked about this or that job and skill, and Yamaguchi changed a few more words with the grey-haired guy named Suga. When it was Yamaguchi’s turn to finally chose an occupation he gave Suga a tensed smile and was mildly pleased to see the other one as excited as he was himself.

“So, Yamaguchi”, the administrator going by the name Takeda began, smiling politely, “tell me, have you decided for a profession.”

“Yeah”, Yamaguchi replied, beamed with excitement, “I want to be an archer.”

“Uh, archer”, Takeda replied, frowning and sucking in a hiss through his teeth. “That’s… fine, I guess.”

“You don’t sound very pleased”, Yamaguchi remarked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Something wrong with my choice?”

“No, no, not at all”, Takeda defended, “But… you must know, the archery master is… one of a kind, to say the least.”

“Why so?”

“He’s… pretty strict”, Takeda explained briefly with a tortured grin, but Yamaguchi knew even if his superior would be the frickin’ king’s executioner himself there would be no way he would choose any other job. He wanted to become an archer, atrocious teacher, or not. “The tasks he gives are pretty demanding.”

“I won't grow strong without a bit of a challenge”, Yamaguchi replied, not really knowing where this confidence came from. Take looked straight into his eyes, long, searching for some kind of weakness, but Yamaguchi remained serious, sturdy, not even blinking once.

“Okay, fine”, Takeda finally stated, filling in some papers, stamping them and shoving them towards Yamaguchi. “He’s living in the woods, you just have to go out the town’s south entrance and from there up the hill, then to the right. There’s a sunlit clearing, that’s where he resides.”

Yamaguchi nodded, already forgetting half of the directions, knowing that his quest marker would guide him to the place, anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

Yamaguchi strolled down the forest’s lush woods, when he finally saw the small crevice between to rocks leading into the clearing where he was supposed to find the archery master. Takeda’s words lingered in his brain, and he wondered how much of this was true. Was his master a cruel, bad-mouthed asshole who would give him only the worst of talks? Would he be challenging but nonetheless genuine and kind whenever Yamaguchi would do a task right? Would he –

He blinked, and then he saw _him_. Up there, standing on the porch of a wooden house (which stand high above ground propped on stilts – who just builds those freaky structures?), lazily gazing into the distance, illuminated by the few rays of sunlight falling through the leafage.

He looked like a _god_.

Yamaguchi couldn’t keep himself from staring. The archery master – and Yamaguchi would bet his whole family’s belongings that this was him – looked as if he was blessed by the gods themselves. Pristine, pale skin, slender limbs, and his face, goddamn his _face_ was the most beautiful one Yamaguchi had ever seen. His short, curly blonde hair framed his high cheeks, his eyes which were from a nearly golden color Yamaguchi could see their shiny glimmer even from down here.

Yamaguchi waddled up the planks and ladders that lead to the porch, now feeling even more ordinary than before, seeing that beautiful man standing there like the impersonation of a proud, tantalizing deer. He himself would _never_ be able to look like this. Maybe that was what everyone discouraged so much, they saw this gorgeous man and were immediately sure that there was no way to hold a candle to that kind of thorough perfection. Yamaguchi felt a sudden urge of wanting to turn around, change his profession, and aim for something smaller, something that would fit him more that standing in the shadows of a man he would never, ever –

“And who would you be?”, a controlled, smooth voice echoed through his brain, and Yamaguchi realized that he had unconsciously taken the last few stairs and was now standing in front of his maybe-future master himself, eyes golden and locked onto the crooked Nobody that dared to even walk the same ways as he himself.

“Eh, uhm”, Yamaguchi stuttered, mentally scolding himself, telling himself that this was just another fucking human being, and there was no excuse as to why he was babbling – and blushing, goddamit! – so hard. Then he flicked his eyes over the other man, and that whole just-another-human thing wasn’t as secured as before. There were at least some kind of elfin facial characteristics, perhaps some distant elfish relatives, and it suited the whole carved-from-marble look in a way that made Yamaguchi’s knees weak.

“An odd name you’ve chosen there”, the blond master said, and Yamaguchi flinched, looking up into the other one’s eyes, seeing a smirk crouch through his face for just half a second.

“No!”, Yamaguchi nearly shouted, voice wobbly, confidence going even more down the drain, “Ya- Yamaguchi’s my name.”

“And why’re you here, Yamaguchi?”, the blonde asked, swaying his lithe body softly in the warm whistling winds while he briefly scanned the area. “Has this impudent, self-called _sword master_ given you the task to retrieve some ghoul eyes, or maybe, spider legs? Because then you probably have to go to –“

“No, nothing like that”, Yamaguchi intervened, earning himself a raised eyebrow. “I – I… want to…” Yamaguchi mumbled, unintelligible, asking himself why he seriously thought to ever become an archer when there was yet this unbelievably gorgeous looking master of the arts, towering over him by just a few centimeters. The blond turned his attention to Yamaguchi, undivided, curious, but nonetheless probing, eyes nearly piercing through the blabbering boy.

“I want to become an archer.”

The blond stood silent for a moment, then a high, clear laugh echoed through the woods, loud and adorable, and if it hadn't been at Yamaguchi’s own expense he would melt into a lucky puddle just by the sound of it.

“You?”, the blond asked when he calmed down, wiping away a tear from his eye’s corner, “an archer? Sorry boy, I don’t teach middle schoolers.” The blond was about to turn when Yamaguchi’s confidence spiked, and he grabbed his master by the sleeve.

“I’m serious”, Yamaguchi said, and the blond turned around to frown at him.

“You’ve got to be kidding”, the blond replied, swatting away Yamaguchi’s fingers. “I mean, look at you. You’re tall, I give you that, but… your _posture_ …”

Yamaguchi felt like some weird slave hunter was taxing him, wondering if he would maybe bring a mere ounce at the market stalls. He didn’t miss the way the blond’s eyes wandered up and down his body, mouth turning into a slight pout.

“What’s wrong with my posture?”, Yamaguchi stated, unconsciously stretching his back to stand fully upright. “I don’t want to be a model, you know.”

“Ah, and he’s snarky”, the blond remarked, eyes squinnying just a tad bit. “Show me your hands.”

Yamaguchi flinched, raising his hands nonetheless, and the blond grabbed them with feather light touches. He watched the palms, then turned them around, examining each and every finger and nail thoroughly. Yamaguchi felt his knees give in and his heart pounce against his ribcage.

“You haven’t worked one day in your life”, the blond stated matter-of-factly, releasing Yamaguchi’s hands.

“How could I?”, Yamaguchi asked, rubbing his hands as if they had been burned, “I merely got here. I was in school before.”

The blond sighed, stood quiet for a moment, propping his hands on his hips.

“Fine”, he finally stated, and his golden eyes finally stopped analyzing Yamaguchi with their intense stare. “I won't teach you a single bit until you’re at least, hm… let’s say, on level five.”

“H-how would I –“ Yamaguchi tried to protest, but then a wooden something was shoved into his arms. He glanced downwards, noticing something that looked just like a _fucking_ kid’s toy bow.

“You can practice with this”, the blond remarked with a cocky smirk when Yamaguchi pouted, looking at the bow as if it was insulting him personally. “Go hunt some boars, or wolves, or whatever you beginner’s do, and then come back.”

Yamaguchi felt truly offended, but then, by hearing the hint that he indeed could come back if he had proven himself worthy his heart did a painful leap into his throat. Yamaguchi wanted to turn around and start hunting when there was something else on his mind.

“What can I call you, oh master of mine”, he mocked, and he saw a faint smile running through the blond’s gorgeous features.

“Me?”, the master replied, seemingly pondering over another clever remark, but then obviously decided to give in. “Call me Tsukishima.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've assigned most of the townsfolks roles and classes, but I'm missing someone who's something like a dealer for illegal goods (golden rabbit tails, silver plated crocodile leather, those kind of things), so I would appreciate if someone's eager to make a suggestion!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, today's my birthday ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ  
> To celebrate yet another year passing by I'll upload another chapter later today ヾ（〃＾∇＾）ﾉ♪

“And then he gave me this.” Yamaguchi lifted the toy bow, still not believing that this was the sole weapon he had to gain five fucking levels with, as he had not enough coin to even buy himself a plain potion. He asked himself if he should just go back to his parents and forget the whole adventure-of-a-lifetime thing. But there was this tiny spark, this itty bitty left-over conviction that told him he _had_ to do this, he had to prove himself worthy to the godlike archery master named Tsukishima.

“Oh, you poor soul”, Suga chuckled, feet dangling from the town’s stone well, water gurgling behind them in a quiet, soothing way. “My master’s not such an asshole, I tell ya…”

Yamaguchi turned sideways to look at Suga, and the dreamy smile the grey-haired showed was a telltale gesture.

“Oh, I get it”, Yamaguchi said, fiddling with the bow’s string, “He’s hot.”

Suga blushed from ear to ear. “N-no! I mean – yes, he is, but it’s not like that.”

“Who is it?”, Yamaguchi asked, grinning broadly, forgetting his task to maybe slaughter about a thousand wolves for a bit. Suga stood quiet, pensive.

“The local weapon smith”, he finally stated, nodding in the general direction of the forge located directly next to the town’s south entrance. “He’s so – _uurgh_ , I mean, his arms, god damn…! I’ve never seen such a fine biceps before!”

Yamaguchi smiled, remembering how often he walked past the forge by now, and its gorgeous-looking smith, all muscular and glistening with sweat while he rough-worked some iron bars and such.

“And his smile, Yamaguchi, I tell you, his smile goes, _pang_ , right through your soul, I was all over him when he hadn't told me a mere two sentences.”

“Then go get him”, Yamaguchi suggested, thinking about his own ridiculous crush on his way-out-of-league archery master, sighing deeply when he remembered the other one’s tantalizing features. He wanted to bury his nails into Tsukishima’s skin, wanted to damage this flaccid appearance and make a complete mess out of him…! Yamaguchi was so, so screwed.

“Nah”, Suga replied, still smiling but showing a slight frown. “There’s something about him I don’t quite get yet.”

Yamaguchi gave Suga an asking look, and the grey-haired sighed.

“He’s… hiding something from me – from everyone, I guess. The forge’s closed during nighttime, obviously, but he’s not at home, either – I was there to ask him about my task, you dickhead!”, Suga added when he saw Yamaguchi waggling his eyebrows, wordlessly asking the other one why the heck he had been at his master’s house during nighttime. Yamaguchi nonetheless snickered, and Suga gave him a friendly bump against the shoulder.

“So… I should probably go hunting”, Yamaguchi stated when he had calmed down, and Suga nodded.

“Sorry for your master being such an asshole”, Suga remarked, but Yamaguchi waved his hand.

“No need”, the dark haired replied, standing up and holstering the ridiculous bow. “He’s a _gorgeous_ asshole.”

“Ah, that’s where the wind’s blowing”, Suga said, showing him a knowing smirk. “I tell you what, come by the forge later and maybe I can persuade Daichi to pimp up your bow a bit.”

Yamaguchi nodded, smiling inwardly, then he bid Suga farewell and wandered off to the woods, ready to eradicate the town’s entire wildlife.  


	4. Chapter 4

He did it, he finally did it!

There it was, level five, and Yamaguchi felt as if he had just won the world cup. With a little bit help from the – non-disputably gorgeous – smith named Daichi (and a swooning Suga, standing behind the smith and gawking at his fine ass, nearly biting off his fingernails) he managed to upgrade the riddiculous toy bow to something more useful, and the wolves and boars and some lesser animals were gone and done in a frenzy. He almost _ran_ through the woods, back to Tsukishima’s hut, but then he stopped mid-step, straightened his back and tried to look at least a tiny bit more decent when he walked and climbed up to his master’s home.

The blond sat onto a wooden bench, sunken in thoughts and humming a sweet melody while he carved some pretty ornaments into a bow with a sharp knife. When he noticed Yamaguchi he didn’t stop his work, just looked at the maybe-apprentice with a quick shift of his golden eyes.

“You seem excited”, Tsukishima stated, and Yamaguchi almost regretted stopping him from humming his sweet tune. “I see you made the five levels.”

“Yup”, Yamaguchi stated, standing before Tsukishima as incongruous as a troll in a fairy’s home. “There won't be any wolves down the woods for a decade, probably.”

Tsukishima didn’t show any sign of recognition, not speaking of appreciation for his hard-working inferior, but after a moment he set the bow and knife aside and patted the spot next to him on the bench.

“You really want to be an archer?”, he asked when Yamaguchi had sat down, and Yamaguchi nodded without hesitation.

“For as long as I can think of”, the soon-to-be apprentice replied, and Tsukishima let out a short laugh.

“Archery is hard work”, Tsukishima stated the obvious, gaze flickering off into the distance, to where the lush wood was the darkest, where there would roam more dangerous beasts than just wolves and poor boars. “You have to earn every little bit of progress, and even then there would be no way to match your skills with all those crude swordsmen and… _mages_.” Tsukishima spat out the other professions like they were only a speck of mud on his shoes, but Yamaguchi didn’t care. He had to concentrate hard to not assault the ravishing blond, wrestle him down to the wooden planks and kiss the hell out of him. “But if you listen to my instructions properly, and learn to use your skills efficiently, then, maybe on some faraway day, you will become a deadly, devastating weapon.”

“I’ll do it, no matter the sacrifices”, Yamaguchi replied sternly. “With you as my master I’m sure I’ll accomplish a lot of things.” The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about it.

“Is that so?”, the blond remarked, smirking and raising a perfectly-shaped eyebrow, and Yamaguchi flinched. Once again the archery master examined his apprentice from head to toe, making the smaller one feel slightly uneasy, then Tsukishima sighed audibly. “Whelp, it’s probably time to show you your room.”

“M-my room?” Had he heard just right? There was no way Tsukishima had just –

“Of course”, the blonde replied, drawing his gaze away from the squirming brunet. “Or perhaps you want to live in a cozy hut in the swamps…?”

“No, I don’t!”, Yamaguchi replied, much too eager for his taste, but the thought about living under the same damn roof as his stunning master was exciting, breath-taking, and, to be honest, a tad bit frightening. Tsukishima gave him a short smile, something so entirely sweet, Yamaguchi feared he might just turn into a puddle and seep through the porch’s planks.

“Then let’s go, I’ll show you around.”


	5. Chapter 5

Living with Tsukishima was – let’s name it as it is – gruesome.

Yamaguchi had to do _all_ the chores. He almost wondered how the lazy blond was able to live on his own before. Yamaguchi had to do the cleaning, the cooking, even the grocery shopping while Tsukishima was off meandering through the woods in search for materials for his bows and light armor. _Friggin’ easygoing half-elves._ Yamaguchi was annoyed most of the time, and for a while he thought of just quitting the distressful work, were it not for the tiny moments he spent with his master, when the blond would occasionally touch him while explaining attack and guard stances, while they ate on his porch listening to the birds and bees and roaring deer, or while helping him with his manifold quests.

“Come on, don’t slack around”, the blond demanded, strolling down the wet sand on the lake’s coastline, and Yamaguchi, whose steps weren’t the least bit as feather-like as Tsukishima’s mumbled curses while he tried to not drown in the slick sands.

“What’re we searching for, anyways?”, Yamaguchi asked, trying to close the distance between them.

“Byssus”, Tsukishima simply stated, and Yamaguchi felt as wise as before. “Mussel silk”, Tsukishima explained when he saw Yamaguchi’s questioning glance, and the blond rolled his eyes before walking further. “It’s a material for bowstrings, made from, well, mussels.”

“Why not linen, or, I don’t know, hemp?”, Yamaguchi remarked, and Tsukishima looked at him as if Yamaguchi had just insulted his elfin ancestors.

“Why don’t we coat ourselves in mud instead of wearing clothes, hm? Wouldn’t that be convenient, I wonder?”, the cocky blond remarked, and Yamaguchi showed him a pout, even though the thought of his master’s fine physique draped in nothing but mud was an imagine Yamaguchi wanted to think of the next night he was alone and itchy in his room. “Finding the best, and I repeat, _only_ the best materials for bows is essential for becoming a true master. Try to remember that.”

“Oh I will”, Yamaguchi replied, searching around the coast for anything that resembles a mussel, even though he had no idea how that would look like.

“So”, Tsukishima began, occasionally stopping to examine a mussel-like structure, finding about ten times the amount Yamaguchi stumbled over. “Tell me about your parents.”

“Why?”, Yamaguchi asked, raising an eyebrow, already fearing that lambasting his master was maybe not the wisest thing to do.

“Because I want to get to know my dear apprentice”, Tsukishima replied sugary-sweet, leaning down to reach for another mussel while Yamaguchi tried to keep himself away from gawking at the blond’s ass. “So? Tell me.”

“Mom was a thief”, Yamaguchi stated after sighing deeply, and was surprised when Tsukishima turned around with a curious glance.

“A thief?”, he probed, and Yamaguchi nodded, wondering as to what the blond was up to this time. “And you? Why didn’t you want to become a petty thief?”

“I thought about it”, Yamaguchi said, ignoring the blond’s teasing, “But I don’t quite fit the description of secretive and… unflashy.”

“Yeah, you don’t”, the blond remarked, and Yamaguchi couldn’t quite assess what he meant by that. “And your dad?”

“A woodworker”, Yamaguchi replied, noticing the immediate change of Tsukishima’s facial features, bordering on angered. “What? What’s wrong with being a woodworker.”

“Nothing, really”, Tsukishima replied, turning his face away to continue his walk down the coastline, brushing his bare feet through the shallow waters, swirling up some sand. “It’s just so… _plain_.”

“No it’s not”, Yamaguchi said, this time not willing to endure Tsukishima’s snarky remarks. “It’s challenging, and you need to be totally focused throughout all the day, and I remember dad not sleeping for about three nights when the –“

“Sorry”, Tsukishima interjected, and Yamaguchi’s mouth fell shut. “I… didn’t want to offend you, nor your family.” The taller one toyed with the few mussels in his hands, and Yamaguchi realized that Tsukishima was probably never easy to apologize to anyone. “There’s just this… personal affair I have to deal with. I didn’t want to insult your relatives.”

“Thanks”, Yamaguchi replied, wondering about why Tsukishima could be that offended by someone being a woodworker.


	6. Chapter 6

“What. Are. You. Wearin’?”

Suga snorted behind his hand, and Yamaguchi tried to stare him down, taking into consideration that this would be plain impossible while he just looked like a clown.

“I need the Pyromanic skill”, Yamaguchi deadpanned, polishing the ornaments of his bow with strengthening oil (attack up by five, now that’s at least better than nothing).

“But you look ridiculous”, Suga said, wheezing and with heaving chest, trying to not gain more attention that Yamaguchi had already gained, sitting in a freaking jesters outfit on a bench in the shadows of the alchemist’s hut. “Can’t you help yourself otherwise? Like, with a potion or something?”

Yamaguchi shrugged his head.

“Too expensive”, the brunet stated, eyeing his bow precariously, deciding for another layer of oil. “This was in some treasure chest I found the other day. Besides, it’s just for a single quest.”

“Which one?”

“The intermediate one that was posted on the notice board yesterday.”

“Ah”, Suga replied, trying to keep his laughter at bay and settling down next to Yamaguchi, “the one with the ghoul on the graveyard.”

“Yeah”, Yamaguchi replied, thinking about the pesky creature he was no match for without a proper armor, and Pyromancy had about twenty-five percent chance to set the creature on fire, what was its weak spot. “I fought it yesterday, too, and almost kicked the bucket. Not to mention that my melee skills’re really bad.”

“You should’ve gotten yourselves a fine sword, then”, Suga remarked, and Yamaguchi stopped rubbing his bow.

“Like the ones the _fine_ smith of yours makes?”, Yamaguchi exaggerated, giving Suga a knowing smirk, and the grey haired blushed slightly.

“Don’t mock me for being weak”, Suga mumbled, and Yamaguchi thought that he himself was no better, being totally in love with his own master. “You’ve seen his arms – and his thighs, damn… he wore those short pants the other day, I just wanted to – _arrgh_ , bite into the flesh and stay there like a leech…!”

“Then stop swooning and do something about him”, Yamaguchi proposed once again, preaching water and drinking wine, but Suga shook his head eagerly, eyes wide. “By the way, have you found out about what he’s hiding?”

“Not yet”, Suga replied, blush making way for a worried frown. “I caught him a few days ago though, sneaking out of the woods with wild hair and ripped shirt – not that I would complain, but really, that was weird.”

“That _is_ weird”, Yamaguchi remarked, finally deciding that his bow was as good as it could be. “Well, I should be off hunting a ghoul, Suga.”

“Don’t make him die of laughter”, Suga replied, snickering again, and then the two boys parted, with Yamaguchi ready to kick some Ghoul’s slimy ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter the story'll finally pick up it's pace!


	7. Chapter 7

“What’re you doing?”, the blond asked, holding a cup of rosehip tea between his long, pale fingers.

“Uhm, choosing a skill, I guess”, Yamaguchi stated absently, reading the same page for the umpteenth time now. “But I can’t really decide for one.” His skill book, the old, ratty thing he got from his mom, filled with remarks and notions about the multitude of skills to choose lay in his lap, and with a painful jump of his heart Yamaguchi noticed that Tsukishima sat down beside him on his bed.

“What’re you pondering over?”, Tsukishima asked, and Yamaguchi had to concentrate hard onto his book to not loose himself in the tantalizing scent of both Tsukishima’s tea and his body fragrance.

“Whether to choose Arrow Rain or Piercing Bolt”, he stated eventually, finger brushing over the worn-out pages while Tsukishima settled his tea onto Yamaguchi’s nightstand.

“It depends”, Tsukishima remarked, leaning so much into Yamaguchi’s personal bubble that it almost hurt, being so close and still not touching. “if you want to lay focus on killing a single enemy or a bunch of ‘em.”

Yamaguchi thought about it, but even though he tried his brain to function properly there was just Tsukishima, rolling through his mind like a wild tide, and there was no way of concentrating to his skills right now.

“I guess killing a horde of enemies would be good”, Yamaguchi stated, and Tsukishima let out a small hum.

“That would be pretty decent, sure”, the blond said, and Yamaguchi absently saw his long, pale fingers stroll over the worn-out pages of his skill book. “But you have to take your profession’s nature into consideration.”

Yamaguchi looked up from the book, turned around and was almost dazzled by how close the blond’s lips were.

“H-how so?”

“Hm”, Tsukishima said, leaning further in, now brushing Yamaguchi’s shoulder with his own and Yamaguchi felt as if his body was on fucking fire. “Archery’s not that strong to begin with. With a far-ranged permanent skill like Sharpshot – and I know you have that one, I saw you using it for this raider – you won't get much out of a skill like Arrow Rain. It would hit lots of enemies, but then they know you’re there, and they won't be damaged that much. Piercing Bolt’s a lot better to one-hit-kill someone, and the bystanders won't even know where it came from.”

Yamaguchi nothing but stared at Tsukishima, faintly noticing the other one’s words, admitting that that made a lot of sense.

“So… Piercing Bold it is”, Yamaguchi said, grabbing for his pen to circle around the skill, when Tsukishima grabbed him by the wrist and held him tight. Yamaguchi feared that his momentary color could compete with Tsukishima’s dark red tea right now.

“You have to decide for your own”, the blonde remarked, eyes half closed, and Yamaguchi was never that close to just knock somebody down against his sheets and hump him. “I’m just your kind advisor, but you have to choose your own path.”

“No, no, it’s a good advice, really”, Yamaguchi replied, heart doing a flip when he noticed that Tsukishima made no move to release his hands, instead the blond’s eyes flickered up and down Yamaguchi’s facial features. “I… that’s probably… a good idea.”

Tsukishima eyed him for a long time, taxed him, analyzed him, then, after what seemed to be an eternity he let Yamaguchi’s hand go and sat upright, ready to move away.

“There’s… another task I’d ask of you, in fact”, the blond told into the empty room, and Yamaguchi felt his insides twist painfully. “But I’d like you to be at least somewhere around level fifteen to start.”

 _Whatever you want_ Yamaguchi thought with a small sigh, and he nodded even though Tsukishima wasn’t looking at him. _Whatever ungodly thing you want, I would rip it straight outta the devil’s hands if I must._

“Go sleep now”, Tsukishima said, smiling faintly, grabbing his cup of rosehip tea and walking through Yamaguchi’s room, past his desk, his notes and poorly drawn Bestiary entries.

Yamaguchi looked after the blond, until he had left the room and Yamaguchi could only hear his faint footsteps down the hallway. He pressed out a sigh, loud, unashamed, and fell backwards onto the pillows.

This was going to be a long week.


	8. Chapter 8

There he was, level fifteen, achieved in only two weeks and a half, earning himself a half-sarcastic applause from his master.

“Why look at you”, Tsukishima hummed, giving Yamaguchi an acknowledging look. “And in such a short time.”

“A lot of ghastly creatures had found their peace through my bow”, Yamaguchi declared pompously, lowering down his bow and silk-woven armor plates next to their home’s entrance. “But, seriously, I bet there’s not a single rat left in the sewer.”

“You should go for the bigger challenges, then”, Tsukishima remarked and stirred the viscous mush simmering over their fireplace.

“I wanna”, Yamaguchi replied, sneaking closer to look whatever icky meal Tsukishima – the single one master with literally no cooking skill – had thrown together. “You… told me about some kind of task?”

“Yeah, right”, Tsukishima said, tossing way too much marjoram into the cauldron, and Yamaguchi scrunched his nose, knowing that he had to eat this a while later. “I want you to find some materials.”

“Okay”, Yamaguchi said, mentally preparing for finding yet another tenfold of wolf pelts, but Tsukishima let out a small, huffed laugh.

“Not that kind of simple ingredients, Tadashi”, Tsukishima stated, and his master calling him by his first name so casually made something inside Yamaguchi’s guts tingle with excitement. “You would be forced to roam around the whole town for them, probably.”

“Well then, tell me what to find. The earlier I go, the faster I’ll be done.”

Tsukishima turned around, ignoring the bubbling abomination behind, giving Yamaguchi a taxing glance.

“Okay, if you insist”, Tsukishima told, wandering off to his bedroom while Yamaguchi quickly tried to improve the so-called meal with a few herbs and well-meant prayers. Tsukishima came back after a moment and shoved a list into Yamaguchi’s hands. The brunet’s eyes flew over the sharp-edged letters, and his eyes opened up almost comically wide.

“What the fuck –“, he hissed, but Tsukishima stifled his foul language with a harrumph. “Sorry, but this is insane, these – these herbs don’t even grow around here!

“If you thing you can’t manage, then it’s okay, too”, Tsukishima said, his voice nonetheless mocking. “I don’t expect you to fetch them, at all.”

Yamaguchi read over the materials once again – a red-glimmering firefly, is the man serious?

“No”, he finally said, eager to fulfill his master’s every wishes, “I’ll get them, and prove myself worthy.”

“Good”, Tsukishima replied, already back to stirring the ‘soup’, smirking absently. “You should probably start with the iron mountings, the smith could make you some.”

Yamaguchi looked up the ingredients once again, and, yeah, the iron mountings could be the most easy things to get. But the sly smirk Tsukishima shot the cauldron was enough to make Yamaguchi wonder why exactly the taller one was giving him such a challenging task, not to speak of why anyone would need something like ‘a handful of Paris Quadrifolia’.

“But, promise me something”, Yamaguchi probed, and Tsukishima turned around once more, curiosity in his eyes. “If I accomplish to get all those things you teach me how to craft more advanced bows, okay?”

Tsukishima examined Yamaguchi, but even though those golden eyes almost pierced through his skull Yamaguchi remained focused, raring to finally learn some real craftsmanship. Tsukishima approached Yamaguchi, hold just before the other one’s chest could touch his own, hovering slightly over Yamaguchi and showing the smaller one an amused smirk.

“Someone’s pretty straightforward today”, Tsukishima said with his low, smooth voice, and Yamaguchi couldn’t keep himself from gulping visibly. “Okay, let’s make this a deal. You get me the ingredients – _all_ of the ingredients, and as much as I request, and I’ll teach you.”

“Deal”, Yamaguchi replied, with a thin voice and just half a brain cell away from tossing Tsukishima against the wall and devour him as a whole.


	9. Chapter 9

“Look at him, Yamaguchi, I mean, just _look_!”

Suga’s voice sounded almost ecstatic, nodding towards the smith that had his back turned towards the pair, working and sweating and flexing his God-given biceps in the late summer’s midday heat.

“You better look at this shit”, Yamaguchi said with a frown towards Tsukishima’s ridiculous list, and Suga propped his head on his hands, ignoring Yamaguchi’s request completely. The grey haired was on his break, swooning over his master’s physical merits instead of grabbing a bite.

“Nope, I’m busy here”, Suga stated dreamily, and Yamaguchi could nothing but grin about the way the smaller one was pinning over his forgery master. “See those thighs? They should be illegal.”

“Yeah, I noticed that”, Yamaguchi replied absently, peeking to where the smith was wiping away some sweat from his forehead only to dive back into his work a moment later. “But Suga, please, can you help me with this rubbish here?”

“Sure, sure”, Suga said a moment later, shaking his head hard to finally stop gawking. “Let’s see… oh, Daichi should have some leftover iron mountings.”

“Heard my name?”, the aforementioned smith stated, leaving his work for a moment to walk to the boys lingering over the nearly impossible list of things Yamaguchi had to find.

“Yamaguchi here has been given a task to fetch a few things”, Suga said, voice not as shaky as Yamaguchi thought it would be, and he could only guess that Suga was much more able to keep his nerves at bay when he was talking to his crush, unless Yamaguchi who was still blabbering like an imbecile whenever Tsukishima approached him at random.

“You’re the archer’s apprentice, right?”, Daichi asked, wiping away some dirt on his fingers with a cloth. Yamaguchi could nothing but notice the smith’s arms flexing by doing so, and something inside his mind decided that he liked the sturdy-looking, composed smith. “Literally everyone’s talking about you these days.”

Yamaguchi frowned. “Why’s someone talking about me?”

Daichi shot Suga a quick glance, something that was way too much obvious to not be noticed by Yamaguchi.

“He’s – your master, he’s quite someone”, Daichi probed, obviously trying to test the waters while Suga drew patterns into the sand at his feet.

“I heard that already”, Yamaguchi replied, keeping himself from rolling his eyes. “but why’s everyone talking about me, especially?”

“Because you’re the one that has to endure his crude demeanor.”

“Daichi…”, Suga probed in between, but the older one talked further.

“Everyone knows how challenging it is to be his apprentice. See, he hadn't even had one since ages, to say the least.”

“Since… ages? Yamaguchi was flabbergasted, and a tiny bit proud to be the single apprentice for ages to keep up with Tsukishima’s quirks.

“Yeah”, Daichi replied, “There was this girl, Yachi I believe, she was the last one to try it, but she quickly rescheduled to be a fencer, I believe.”

“You could ask her about him”, Suga remarked with a wink. “Some _private_ things.”

Yamaguchi blushed, but Daichi didn’t seem to get what the boys where talking about.

“Anyways, that list of yours, anything I can help you with?”

“Y-yeah”, Yamaguchi replied, head still somewhere along the fact that Tsukishima was such an asshole that literally no one wanted to endure his shit for long.

“Ah, iron mountings, yeah…”, Daichi remarked after he quickly strolled down the list. “I’m afraid there’s not a single one left in the whole smithy.”

“You sure?”, Suga interjected, and Yamaguchi let his shoulders drop.

“Yeah, the soldiers have bought all of ‘em”, Daichi replied, pulling his mouth into an adorable pout, “If you want you can go over there and ask for some.”

“Yeah, I’ll probably do that”, Yamaguchi replied, sighing audibly while Daichi bid his farewell and returned to his work, asking Suga to come along and show him some tricks on how to prepare silver ore.

That even the simplest item on his list would prove to be such a challenge was nothing Yamaguchi had anticipated, but there was no way he would disappoint Tsukishima, anyways.


	10. Chapter 10

The local swordsmen guild was a lively bunch full of skillful warriors and over-eager apprentices, and Yamaguchi had to dodge a few sword thrusts while he searched for the guild’s master. He knew Bokuto from his hunts down the woods, where the excitable Hero had taught his apprentices how to find and kill wolves and wargs (and Yamaguchi had eavesdropped from behind the bushes).

“Hey-hey”, the cheerful master’s bright voice echoed over the yard when he spotted Yamaguchi, and the brunet gave him a quick wave, originally hoping that his presence wouldn’t gain so much attention. “Whatta ya want, archer-boy?”

“Hey Bokuto-kun”, Yamaguchi greeted him politely, looking around for a brief moment, spotting some tussling boys that made an awful noise while rake each other with swords and lances. “The smith said you’ve bought all of the iron mountings. Do you have some spare one’s, maybe?”

“Ah, dunno”, the older one replied, elbow propped onto his massive longsword, truly living up to his specialization’s name. _Hero_. “Have ‘ta ask Akaashi, he’s the one with the overview.”

“Uhm, and… where’s he?”, Yamaguchi asked, regretting his question immediately when Bokuto yelled for his second-in-command in an ear-shattering volume.

“What can I do for you, Bokuto-san?”, the polite fencer asked, with his sharp sword attached to his girdle, looking like a man who had seen way too much to be truly annoyed by his superior’s antics, anymore.

“Yam’s here need some of those iron-thingies you’ve purchased yesterday”, Bokuto said with a grin, and Akaashi’s face lightened up when he noticed Yamaguchi.

“Ah, I’ve bought them for the apprentices”, Akaashi explained calmly, and rolled his eyeballs when Bokuto was about to jump off to engage the over-boiling wrangle behind. “I’m afraid I can only spare one, maybe two.”

“Two’s all I need, Akaashi-san”, Yamaguchi remarked, and Akaashi nodded, guiding the archer to the guild’s stockroom, searching and finding the required items shortly after.

“Thanks, Akaashi-san, what do I owe you?”, Yamaguchi asked after he had stored away the mountings, already nestling a few coins out of his bag.

“Oh, nothing, really”, Akaashi replied with a polite smile. “I think you’re struggling enough with that… master of yours.”

Yamaguchi let out a short laugh, frowning when he remembered who he was talking to. “That makes two of us, I guess”, he said, earning a small laugh from the ever-so-indifferent fencer.

“Bokuto’s… really unique”, Akaashi stated when they left the storage, closing the door behind, “But when you know how to deal with his originalities it’s pretty easy to work with him.”

“Yeah I guess”, Yamaguchi said, watching the guild’s master who was swatting some apprentices down the ground with fierce-looking eyes.

“Maybe try understanding your master a bit more, too”, Akaashi added, and Yamaguchi felt the warmth crawl into his ears. “He’s got his story to tell, too. Asking him about his reason would eventually benefit you both.”

“I’ll try, Akaashi-san”, Yamaguchi replied, thinking about how the heck he would ever be able to address Tsukishima to chat about his private life. “By the way, do you know someone by the name Yachi?”

“Oh, you mean my latest apprentice”, Akaashi said with a somewhat pained expression, and nodded towards a spot where a tiny blonde tried to pierce a training mannequin with her shiny, well-polished epée. “She told me that she was applying for an archer herself before.”

“I’ve heard that she gave up”, Yamaguchi remarked, remembering what Daichi had told him before. “That Tsukishima-sama was a bit hard on her.” Yamaguchi cringed, hearing the ‘sama’ seep out of his mouth before he knew it, and Akaashi gave him a probing glance but obviously decided not to ream further.

“As much as I knew from Yachi he was a monster”, Akaashi finally stated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“A monster? That’s a bit harsh.” Yamaguchi knew how his master could be when he was in a bad mood, but surely he would never call him a –

“He made her scrub his floors with a toothbrush”, Akaashi stated, worried eyes scanning his clumsy apprentice, trying to pull her epée out of the mannequin which was stuck inside the wooden structure like a cork in a wine bottle. “And she had to write all his formal letters for his mother. But, well, talk to her yourself, would you? It’s really not my affair to stick my nose into.”

Yamaguchi nodded, bid Akaashi farewell and watched him returning to his own master, who was busy holding a passionate speech for his underlings that eyed him like he had been chosen elected by the gods themselves.

Yamaguchi strolled down the courtyard to Yachi, who was still struggling with her sword, and when she noticed him she turned around, face red both from exhaustion and embarrassment.

“My – my sword won’t come out”, she stated, showing him a faint, distressed smile.

“I see that”, Yamaguchi said, wondering how she had managed to wedge an even sword in a wooden mannequin. Maybe there was a reason she wasn’t quite destined to come up to Tsukishima’s high expectations. “You want help with that?”

“Thanks, that would be great.” Yachi’s chest heaved and sweat ran down her forehead while Yamaguchi eyed the epée – a fancer’s classic beginner’s weapon – held the grip firm and pulled. With a yelp he yanked it out of the mannequin, nearly tripping over his feet due to his own force, and then he gave the sword back to Yachi, relieved that he indeed had the strength to pull it out.

“Oh thank you!”, the girl said, examining her epée like she had never seen it before, and Yamaguchi felt confidence creep up his spine. “My name’s Yachi, by the way.”

“Yamaguchi”, he introduced himself, and wondered how he should the matter as to why he had decided to pay her a visit in the first place. “Yachi-san… I don’t want to pry, but… I’m kinda the new archery apprentice.”

“Oh.” Yachi’s face nearly fell down the floor when the word ‘archery’ came over Yamaguchi’s lips, and the brunet almost wanted to turn back the time to not ask her about it at all.

“S-sorry, Yachi-san!”, Yamaguchi answered hastily, “If you don’t wanna talk about it –“

“I want to”, Yachi said, regaining some leftover composure, tucking her epée back into the sheath. “You gotta know what to deal with.”

“I’ve already lived with him for about two months”, Yamaguchi explained, “I believe I know a pretty lot about Tsukishima by now.”

“As long as you don’t make mistakes he’s pretty decent”, Yachi stated, “But wreak havoc once and – _poff_ – he’s a slave driver.”

“I most certainly don’t believe that”, Yamaguchi said, and Yachi showed him a genuine smile.

“Trust me, you _will_ believe it. Make him angry once and he’s worse than the devil himself. You know what, maybe you should talk to his brother.”

“His brother?” Yamaguchi raised her a disbelieving eyebrow, wondering about how much exactly he knew of the man he adored so much.

“Yeah, hadn't he told you?”, Yachi replied, fiddling with her sword’s handle, “Akiteru is his name, he’s the local carpenter.”

“Carpender? Like in ‘woodworker’?”, Yamaguchi asked, some faint bulb in his brain lightening up hearing this.

“Yeah, he cuts his own trees and sells them at his store on the market. Pay him a visit, he’s… probably the one who had struggled the most to keep his brother’s demeanor at bay.”

Yamaguchi felt as if something had hit him square in the face. Tsukishima has a brother? That were some pretty devastating news for him. Why would the blond hide that fact from his apprentice? Had the siblings not been on good terms? Had he merely never asked for Tsukishima’s relatives? Or was Yamaguchi simply not worth sharing such private information?

“You know, I most definitely will look out for Akiteru”, Yamaguchi eventually replied, leaving Yachi to herself for now, even if he wanted to ask the small blonde a bit more about their fellow master. But, and Yamaguchi was sure of that, maybe the most things the girl would probably tell him were of a sort Yamaguchi already feared hearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk to me if you like, that would really make my day! (Tomorrow I'm finally going to quit my recent job, and I'm nervous as hell...!)


	11. Chapter 11

“Ah, you’re here for the discount, aren’t you?”

Yamaguchi had to blink twice, thrice, to not confuse the pretty blond staring at him with his very own master. They had the exact same, gold-glistening eyes, the same lanky physics, only the hair, nonetheless identically smooth, was a bit longer than Tsukishima’s.

“Errgh, no”, Yamaguchi said, slowly, trying not to upset yet another citizen by asking about Tsukishima. “I’m… here because I wanted to talk with you.”

The blond shot him a questioning glance before returning back to sand off some wooden furniture.

“Oh, ask away”, the carpenter told with nearly the same voice Yamaguchi’s master had, but without the ever-so-present snide undertone.

“Y-you’re Akiteru-kun, right?”, Yamaguchi probed, and the blond looked up for a brief second.

“Yup, in person”, he replied, and Yamaguchi gulped, tried to assess how to start this conversation.

“You’re… Tsukishima-san’s brother, right?”

The blond paused his work and eyed Yamaguchi conspicuously.

“Yeah, that would probably be me”, he stated hesitantly, returning once again back to his work, slowly, carefully, not as concentrated as before. “He’s bothering you or something?”

“No, he’s really not”, Yamaguchi stated, walking around the counter to not to be forced to shout over the noise the carpenter’s grinding made. “He’s… I want to know a bit more about him, and, well, someone told me that you’re his brother and, uhm… could you, maybe tell me about him… a bit?” Yamaguchi’s blabbering turned into unintelligible words, and Akiteru stopped his work, tossing the sandpaper aside to be able to talk properly.

“Why do you even want to know?”, the tall blond asked, and Yamaguchi felt slightly uncomfortable, suddenly feeling like some weird creep, stalking around Tsukishima’s life like this. “Literally everyone knows he’s got a somewhat… _special_ attitude.”

“I know, I’m his new apprentice”, Yamaguchi stated and Akiteru seemed to be genuinely surprised.

“Wow, that’s… unfortunate, I guess”, Akiteru remarked after a moment, brushing his dusty fingers through his hairline. “You sure you want this?”

“I honestly don’t know why everyone’s so willing to pick at him”, Yamaguchi answered with strained voice, a tad bit annoyed by the way people thought about his master. “He’s not that bad.”

The silence between the two guys was almost palpably tensed, when Yamaguchi remembered that there had been yet another cause why he had to visit the local carpenter, anyways.

“I… need to fetch some materials”, he stated, fiddling the crinkled paper note out of his back and showing it to Akiteru. “Here, see? Something called locust wood. This is a tree, right?”

“Yeah”, Akiteru explained, brushing his fingers over the paper’s letters, making Yamaguchi wonder if the other one probably recognized his brother’s neat handwriting. “It’s a pretty valuable wood one would use to craft a bow. I’m not even sure if it’s common around here…”

Yamaguchi’s facial features plummeted hearing this.

“But!”, Akiteru added with a sly smirk, “I’m pretty sure I can find you some. Let me just take a quick note…”Akiteru turned around to find himself some pen and paper when something seemed to crawl through his brain and out his mouth. “He… was a good guy”, Akiteru eventually stated, and Yamaguchi remained silent to just let him talk. “Kei, I mean. A long time ago, before, you know, _that_ happened.”

“What had happened?”

Akiteru frowned, examining Yamaguchi thoroughly.

“You don’t know?”, Akiteru asked, “The thing with his eyesight?”

_What fucking ‘thing’ with his eyesight?_

“No, I don’t”, Yamaguchi replied slowly, and Akiteru crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“As much as I like to, I probably shouldn’t tell you about it.”

“You can’t just hint me something like this and the brush me off!”, Yamaguchi replied, somewhat irritated, upset about the amount of secrets his master obviously hides from his sole apprentice. “Please, what had happened to his eyes?”

“You should ask him yourself, really”, Akiteru stated firmly, and Yamaguchi assumed there was no way the older one would yield. “Go fetch some good food for him, go take a hot bath with him or something like that, and maybe he’ll talk. It’s… about time he opens up to at least someone.”

Yamaguchi’s thoughts already trailed off, towards a shared bath, and his mind almost froze by the image of a bare Tsukishima sitting next to Yamaguchi in a hot spring, scrubbing off last week’s grime, talking with Yamaguchi about all the things he keeps well-hidden beneath his cold demeanor and never-crackling façade.  


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> |_・)  
> I swear, there's going to be smut one day, but you probably still have to wait a bit （￣ー￣)ゞ

“If I want to do _what_ with you?”

Tsukishima eyed his apprentice precariously while Yamaguchi just tried to dissolve into dust, hearing the words stumble out of his mouth.

“I-If you want to… take a bath? With me?” Yamaguchi cringed, hearing his question repeatedly made it sound even more awkward. Tsukishima crossed his arms before his chest, mouth almost turned into a pout, arching an eyebrow.

“Don’t get me wrong”, the archer probed, slowly, with as much fake politeness as he was able to produce. “As much as I fancy taking a bath in the hot spring I’d rather not stumble around naked in the presence of my apprentices.”

Yamaguchi’s tensed body fell limp almost immediately, altering between imagining Tsukishima’s skin, bare and glistening with hot water, and the fact that he had indeed tried to coax Tsukishima into taking a fucking bath with him. If there would be a word for wandering the thin line between embarrassment and arousal, then Yamaguchi’s currently prancing on it like some Rumanian acrobat. Tsukishima turned back around, to his desk where he had been brooding over some sketches. Yamaguchi sighed, was already about to walk out of his master’s room when the older one glanced back at him, a faint smirk tugging on his lips.

“Even though… I believe you’re quite a pretty sight”, Tsukishima remarked silently, inwardly, more to himself that out loud, and Yamaguchi felt his heart leap into his throat and fall straight into his stomach simultaneously. He didn’t know how to answer that, in fact he didn’t remember right now how to form sentences, at all. Tsukishima turned fully around once again, examining Yamaguchi, cocking his head a bit to the side. “You know what, fine. Tomorrow night, when the moon’s up high and everyone’s asleep – and no peeking!”

“Yes! Err, no, I mean – that’s great!”, Yamaguchi nothing but squawked, fearing he might sound like a maniac, but Tsukishima smiled, returning back to his work a moment later.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ヾ(_ _。）In compensation for the last, rather short chapter this one's a bit longer.

Yamaguchi was in heaven.

He had ascended and had been granted his heart’s one true desire. And if this wasn’t heaven then he believed he had just traversed to some parallel world, where his outrageously beautiful master was pretty comfortably naked and sitting right. fucking. next to him in a hot spring, smiling contentedly, resting the back of his head against the spring’s stony edges.

“You’re too stiff”, Tsukishima’s smooth voice echoed through his dazzled brain, and Yamaguchi flinched, only hearing the word ‘stiff’ and immediately thinking about something entirely else. “You’ve been the one persuading me in doing this, so would you please relax, too?”

“Y-yeah, I’ll try”, Yamaguchi replied, wishing for the well to split in half and swallow him whole, remembering that he himself was indeed very naked, too. Tsukishima had forced him to turn around when the master had entered the bubbling waters, but Yamaguchi felt his eyes drilling holes into his skin when it was his own turn to get rid of his clothes. Even though the blond closed his eyes mid-strip, relaxing, dipping his head back and sinking further down the soothing waters Yamaguchi felt a grave tinge of self-awareness the moment he wore nothing but his skin.

For a while both archers stood silent, listening to the nature’s sounds, hearing some wolves howl from somewhere far away. Yamaguchi carefully tried to peek at Tsukishima, tried to catch a glimpse of whatever was hidden beneath the water – _what kind of a creep am I?_ – and he remembered his master’s monologue about how much of a pretty sight his apprentice would probably be. Had that been just teasing? Tsukishima’s answer to Yamaguchi’s snooping? Was there any way the master knew about his apprentice’s obsession? Absently Yamaguchi drew loose patterns in the water before his chest with his index finger, eyes once again darting sideways to where Tsukishima’s pale but firm figure sat, a few peals of sweat running down his neck and chest. The sudden urge to jump the master, straddle his lap and kiss him until the heat would knock them both out creeped into Yamaguchi’s mind, and for now, just this once, Yamaguchi allowed his heart to beat faster, his palms to sweat more, and the heat in his cheeks and ears to show in form of a rosy tint. He thought about how it would be if there would be a hand, pale, long deft fingers dancing over his arm, up to his neck and hairline, and how it would be if the master would maybe take the lead, would lean in to place a soft kiss against Yamaguchi’s lips without another spare word. He imagined his master leaning even closer, cocking his head slightly to the side and drawing Yamaguchi towards his lithe body, to where the heat would almost be too much to handle, to where –

“So, Tadashi”, the blond began after a moment, ripping Yamaguchi’s mind out of the gutter. “Care to tell me what you want from me?”

“W-what? I, no, I don’t want anything –“

“Please”, Tsukishima interjected, eyes still closed, his face almost untypically calm. “I’m not some dumb cave troll. Tell me what you’d like to know and maybe I’ll tell you about it.”

Yamaguchi took a long breath, wondering how he should address the things Tsukishima’s brother had mentioned.

“I… just want to know you a bit more, that’s all”, Yamaguchi finally began, cringing from the sound of his faux-genuine response. “About your parents, your family in general. Maybe about your years as an apprentice?”

Tsukishima’s eyes opened, slowly, contemplative, staring into the distant night’s sky.

“My family’s… not really worth mentioning”, he eventually explained, and Yamaguchi tried to not even breathe to not make Tsukishima regret his unusual candor. “I finished my mother’s archery teachings when I hadn't even reached majority. I came to Hazeldrift, remained here for a while, and eventually built my home here.”

Tsukishima fell silent, and Yamaguchi tried to push his luck a bit further.

“And… some other relatives?”

Tsukishima turned his head, looking straight into Yamaguchi’s dark eyes.

“I have a brother”, Tsukishima replied after a moment, showing an expression somewhere between remorse and anger. “But we… don’t quite talk a lot.”

“Why not?”, Yamaguchi asked, and Tsukishima gave him an almost taxing look before he answered.

“We’ve had differing opinions about certain matters”, the master told, staying silent for a moment, but deciding to address the matter further. “He was an archer, once, too. Like mom and dad, but then he decided to part with the family and become – well, something _different_.”

“A carpenter”, Yamaguchi said, staring into the bubbling water in front, eyes wide and without blinking, not noticing his master’s eyebrows flinching hearing this. He knew exactly what Tsukishima meant by this; Not _different_ , but _inferior_.

“You… did you talk to him?”

“W-who?”, Yamaguchi stuttered, feeling Tsukishima’s serenity dwindle immediately.

“Don’t lie to me, Tadashi”, Tsukishima demanded, giving Yamaguchi such a fierce stare the smaller one wanted to drown in the spring’s hot waters. “You’ve visited Akiteru, right? He was the one suggesting you should take me to a bath to ‘calm my nerves’, right?”

“Yeah”, Yamaguchi eventually folded, knowing there was literally no way to deceive the astute archery master. “He… I visited him – b-but only because I needed something from this darn list of yours!”

“Yet there was no need to snoop around my life by using my brother’s credulity.”, Tsukishima said with a stern voice, anger running through his features. “God, he’s so predictable”, the master mumbled further, more to himself than to Yamaguchi.

“I didn’t _use_ him, though”, Yamaguchi defended himself, eagerly, annoyed by his master’s cockiness, “He was telling me about you all by himself – hell, he even said he won't tell me anything about the thing with your eyesight –“

Yamaguchi clapped his hands over his mouth, pulling his hands out of the water so hastily that he caused some waves.

“What”, Tsukishima began, eyes squinnied so much Yamaguchi couldn’t even see their bright color, anymore. “did he tell you about my eyes?”

“No-nothing, believe me!”, Yamaguchi said, torn between heated anger and utter regret, but Tsukishima was already strolling past him, out of the hot spring, showing Yamaguchi his marbled, stupidly _perfect_ ass before toweling off and quickly slipping into his pants.

Yamaguchi followed him, ignoring his own nakedness in favor of defending both himself and Tsukishima’s brother. 

“He’d just prattled away”, he blabbered, grabbing Tsukishima by his wrist, surprising the blond by doing so, “thought that I had already known about it – even though I don’t – as your apprentice for months and such, so…”

“That’s so typical of him”, Tsukishima replied, turning his pretty face into a derisive grin, “He won't shut up even if his life depended on it.” The master swatted his apprentice’s hand away as if it was an ugly roach, eyes briefly peeking downwards to Yamaguchi’s unveiled nakedness, and the younger one immediately blushed from head to toe. Tsukishima reached for another towel, shoving it into Yamaguchi’s arms. “Here”, the blond told, detached, “wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”

Tsukishima was about to wander off, back to their stilted hut in the woods, but Yamaguchi knew if he wanted to coax the snarky blond into telling him at least _something_ , then it would be now, or never.

“Tsukishima-sama”, Yamaguchi began while loosely wrapping the towel around his waist, and his master halted his steps. “Kei, please. I’m really not one to stick my nose into things that are none of my concern, but… can you tell me what had happened to you? Please?”

Tsukishima, whose back was turned towards Yamaguchi sighed deeply and faced his apprentice once again, derogatory eyes looking down at Yamaguchi.

“Do you really want to know, Tadashi, hm? Do you want to know your master’s pitiful secret?”

Yamaguchi didn’t knew how to answer that, but the blond talked further, nonetheless.

“Well, it won't matter, anymore.”, Tsukishima said, sighing again, approaching his apprentice slowly. “I… I had an accident, long time ago. There was this… _incident_ with a crown basilisk, and I hadn't paid enough attention, and there was this –“ He pinched the back of his nose with his middle and index finger, frowning. “My eyesight’s practically non-existent, and not soon before long it would be gone for good.”

Yamaguchi looked at his master, at Kei, with his tantalizing golden eyes, frightened by the thought that those wonderful, bright orbs would soon be nothing more than mere decoration, benefitting his master to no avail. A thought creeped into Yamaguchi’s mind, and suddenly, some things about his master’s behavior began to make sense; Tsukishima walks rather slowly – not because he likes to admire the scenery, but because of his lack of vision. He carves the finest bows, out of the finest wood, but even though Tsukishima has shown Yamaguchi the correct posture, the correct way of firing an arrow, taught him ways to not lose his focus during a fight Yamaguchi realized that he had never actually seen Tsukishima firing a single arrow by himself.

“A… crown basilisk?”, was the only dumb thing Yamaguchi was able to respond, and a shiver ran down his spine, not only because of the gloomy topic but his wet skin cooling rapidly in the night’s chilly air.

“Nasty fiends”, Tsukishima explained with a nod, “Can turn you into stone with a mere blink if you’re not prepared properly and, well, I wasn’t, obviously. I hid before the basilisk’s eyes, but I hadn't taken notice of the beast’s venom, and before I knew it had seeped into my eyes and had damaged them irreversibly.”

Yamaguchi looked at his master, tried to assess how to comfort someone who doesn’t want to be comforted for something that could never be argued away with just words.

“Tsukki I’m –“

“No”, Tsukishima interjected, ignoring the nickname Yamaguchi had just given him, “Don’t try to tell me you’re sorry, really. It’s plain ridiculous, in one or two years I’m going to be the pathetic blind archer, who could’ve ever conceived that! I don’t want anyone’s pittance.”

“You don’t want anyone’s _proximity_ , Tsukishima-sama”, Yamaguchi replied as stalwart as he was able to, catching the blond off-guard. “Maybe there’s something you can do – m-maybe there’s someone who could help you!”

“And you suggest I didn’t thought of that?”, Tsukishima said, closing the distance between them even more, making Yamaguchi once again realizing how much naked he were, and he twisted the towel’s knot between his fingers. “Yeah, I just sat there, carving my pretty bows, stared into the distance and waited for a twinkly fairy to arrive redeeming me from this – this _curse_.”

“But there’s got to be something”, Yamaguchi stated stubbornly, not even the slightest bit ready to accept the fact that his master, the one that meant so much to him, was going to be blind in less than two years. “Seriously, with all due respect, but I’ve got to know you a bit by now. Don’t try to tell me you’ve asked _everyone_ around here if they could help you.”

Tsukishima seemed baffled, but then his expression changed to something calmer, appreciative even. “I hadn't asked that much people, I guess”, he admitted, scratching his neck, “But – _no_ , don’t give me that look, don’t you dare asking random townsfolk about a miraculous cure in my stead.”

“And if I do?”, Yamaguchi probed, feeling ridiculously insignificant with his tousled hair, his shame-reddened cheeks and with a moist towel around his waist. Tsukishima leaned down, so that their nose’s tips almost touched.

“You won't dare”, he threatened, voice deep and sharp. “I’ll hunt you down wherever your journey would bring you.”

“Ha, as if”, Yamaguchi replied cockily, heart thrumming against his ribcage so much he was sure Tsukishima could see it. “With such a bad eyesight? You won't even hit that tree over there.”

Yamaguchi felt his death creep closer the more seconds he kept himself from falling down to his feet and apologizing to Tsukishima, begging him to please forgive his taunting, but much to his surprise Tsukishima began to smirk, leaning away from Yamaguchi.

“Hmpf”, he vocalized, giving Yamaguchi an almost acknowledging look. “The student obviously learned from the master, even the arts of non-physical battling.”

Yamaguchi tried to not smile like an idiot, but his face did otherwise while Tsukishima left the hot spring’s surroundings.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that this has to remain a secret between me and you, regardless of your wish to aid me, got that?”

Yamaguchi nodded, like he hadn't just raised his voice to his master and fucking _won_ the banter.

“Come, _dear_ apprentice”, Tsukishima mocked, waving the back of his hand at Yamaguchi, “I really need something between my teeth, and a good apprentice’s to know when his master is hungry.”

“C-coming!”, Yamaguchi said, turning from cocky to smitten in nearly half a second, quickly worming into his clothes and following Tsukishima back to their home.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning Yamaguchi was woken by arguing. Loud arguing. Between two voices tinted in nearly the same smooth tune, and Yamaguchi peeped out of his bedroom chamber to who was causing such a ruckus.

“- I just brought the locust – the wood you coerced your apprentice to gather for you!”

“He could’ve fetched it from your store, Aki”, Tsukishima’s voice responded, and Yamaguchi was about sure that he was bantering with his brother, the carpenter. “No need for you to pry around here, in my privacy.”

“Seriously, Kei, the – the wood’s heavy!”, Akiteru sneered, somewhat exhausted by his brother’s stubbornness. “How’ he supposed to carry such a weight? You should thank me for bringing it here.”

“He’s not made out of sugar, he would’ve managed it.”

“Geez Kei, sometimes I just wanna, _arrrgh_ – turn your pesky neck around and…!” Akiteru made a strangling motion while the archer’s face remained as indifferent as before, arms crossed in front of his chest. If that wouldn’t be such a grave matter Yamaguchi would have said that his master never looked more pristine, unassailable almost. “You really should value the ones that rely on you more, Kei.”

“That’s really none of your con –“

“Yeah it is”, Akiteru intervened, and Tsukishima scrunched his nose like he had been hit with a flat palm. “I’m all that’s left of your family, and I worry about you.”

“Is that why you revealed my condition without even blinking?” The archer eyed his brother, and for a moment it was Akiteru who seemed to be the younger, more vulnerable one.

“I just thought you had already told him, that’s all”, Akiteru explained finally, “It’s really sad that you don’t even trust the sole apprentice that had the balls to keep up with your shit.”

“Aki, don’t – “ Tsukishima growled, but Akiteru shook his head. Yamaguchi however felt a weird kind of fondness towards the carpenter who was defending him that eagerly.

“He’s doing so much for you, and you don’t even give a fuck”, Akiteru continued, ignoring his brother’s words. “Really, you should pull your head outta your ass sometimes, Kei.”

And with that harsh words Akiteru turned around and left the premises, leaving his brooding brother to himself, and right before the blond turned around Yamaguchi yanked his head back to not get caught eavesdropping.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I'd re-watched the first four episodes of Haikyuu!! with german dub! And man, is Tsukki an ass! And thus, we all love him. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

_Yass!_

With a victorious grin on his face and his fist pumped high in the air Yamaguchi examined his work. Finally, his twenty-fourth, totally useless and plain boring Leather Boot got him the last missing experience points to hit the level 20 mark, which means he’s now one step closer to becoming a full-fledged archer, and he has yet another skill point available to choose another new ability.  _Maybe I should enhance my fire arrows a bit more_ he thought, stowing away the leather boot to where all its other boring and useless brothers had found their temporary storage. _Or I could use it to unlock this pretty neat Immobilize Shot…? Should probably ask Tsukki about it…_

A loud rumble and a high yelp made Yamaguchi flinch and almost throw away his boot, realizing a moment later that both noises came from someone coming up the stairs and ladders to pay the odd archer-duo a visit. Normally there was no one who would voluntarily visit neither the eccentric archery master nor his apprentice – now that Yamaguchi gave it a thought there hadn't been one single soul up here except the two of them since Yamaguchi’s arrival.

A few more moments passed and then a blonde shock of hair showed itself next to the porches’ edge, and Yamaguchi recognized the former-archer-now-fencer girl named Yachi, wheezing and propping her hands onto her knees, bending over like she had just ran a marathon.

“I – I’ve always hated this stairs”, she exclaimed under her breath, casually greeting Yamaguchi with a short nod when she noticed him, and Yamaguchi quickly set aside his working materials while Yachi tried to catch her breath again. “Hey, Yamaguchi-kun, nice to – to meet you.”

 “Good thing you ran into me and not Tsukishima-sama”, Yamaguchi remarked and Yachi gave him a pained expression.

“Yeah I guess”, Yachi responded, approaching Yamaguchi and briefly peeking around, examining her long past home. “I wanted to talk to you, anyways.”

“Me?”, Yamaguchi asked, raising his eyebrow, absently wiping away some sawdust from his work bench. “I dunno –“

“I wanted to apologize”, Yachi intervened, and when Yamaguchi looked at her once again the small blonde had bowed down, inappropriately low before Yamaguchi, which made the taller one blush slightly. “F-for speaking so rudely of Tsukishima-san.”

“Shouldn’t you apologize to him, then?”, Yamaguchi asked, not knowing if an apology was even needed in the first place. Literally the whole town had spoken ill of him one day or the other, and Yamaguchi guessed that his master was very aware of it. _There had to be a good reason someone deliberately choses the wilderness’ solitude instead of the immediate proximity of any other living being. Maybe it’s because deer and boars don’t judge the way humans do?_ For the first time Yamaguchi pondered about the question of what had been there first: Tsukishima’s rude behavior towards the people of Hazeldrift – or the townsfolk’s dismissive attitude towards the archer. But, whatever constellation was true, Yamaguchi’s wish to eventually be the first person to treat Tsukishima as an emotionally capable human being – worth of being loved, too – corroborated more and more each day. He would prove them wrong, he would prove _himself_ wrong. Tsukishima Kei _will_ fall in love with him, through destiny, spell or curse, or whatever was necessary, of that Yamaguchi was sure, as stupid as that sounds.

But, even though Yamaguchi thought way more fondly of his master than others the things Yachi said had been true, too, and Yamaguchi felt that Yachi maybe was one to think very little of herself, sometimes. True, life’s not easy at the bottom, but every human being has the right to be treated equally, master or not, and Tsukishima’s way of treating the small, insecure girl had undeniably bordered on slavery.

“No, I – he… knows what I think of him”, Yachi explained, “And frankly, I won’t take it back. But… back then, when you asked me about him I didn’t quite realize how _you_ think of him.”

“M-me?” Yamaguchi’s heart felt as if it had been incinerated, and he wanted to deny what Yachi had implied immediately, but the gentle, knowing smile the small, clumsy girl showed him was enough for him to see that Yachi did not guess but _knew_ about Yamaguchi’s feelings towards his superior.

“…Was it that obvious?”, Yamaguchi sighed, showing her a coy smirk, and Yachi slowly shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“Let’s say a little birdie told me about it”, Yachi stated with an excusing smirk, and Yamaguchi was about to ask what the heck she meant with that when footsteps announced yet another visitor.

“Yamaguchi!”, Suga exclaimed, a way too obnoxious sound in the middle of the serene forest, and some deer decided to give the trio an annoyed stare and vanished in the lush woodwork, afterwards. “Sorry, I wanted to be here earlier, but I kinda got lost in the forest…”

“You’re serious?”, Yamaguchi asked with a chuckle. “Why’re you even here?”

“Ah, dunno”, Suga said, smiling cheerfully, searching for something in his bag, “I just thought about visiting you, and Hitoka wanted to come along – ah, _look_!”

Yamaguchi eyed whatever Suga pulled out of the bag precariously, and a moment later he noticed that it was just a large greenish bottle with a bright, purple fluid inside.

“What’s that?”, Yamaguchi asked, and Suga smirked, waving the bottle a bit so the colorful liquid swirled softly inside.

“Let’s call it wine”, Suga expressed with a wink, and Yachi chuckled quietly. “I wanted Daichi to come, too, but he said he felt a bit sick, so… more for the three of us, I guess.”

Yamaguchi noted the faint expression of sadness inside Suga’s eyes, as _getting your boss drunk_ had yet to remain on his quest log, but then he seemed to lighten up, giving Yamaguchi an expectant stare.  

“Yeah, why not?”, Yamaguchi replied eventually, and wanted to sat down on one of the porches wooden benches when he noticed Yachi, standing upright and alert like she had seen a pack of wild boars.

“Tsukishima-sama”, she said, eyes unmoving, face stern, and when Yamaguchi turned around towards their front door he saw his master stand there, unfazed, expression as neutral as ever, arms crossed in front of his chest. The tension between the two of them was almost immediately palpable, and neither Yamaguchi nor Suga knew how to dissolve the grave situation.

“Yachi-san”, Tsukishima spit out eventually, and the flagrant amount of dismissal made even the two boys flinch. “I’ve heard you settled down for a fencer’s career.”

Yachi nodded, shortly, and Yamaguchi could see her small fingers shiver slightly.

“That’s good”, Tsukishima expressed, eyes briefly darting to Yamaguchi and back, “I hope Akaashi-san’s been a good teacher to you.”

Better than you was probably what Yachi wanted to express, but no words left her lips, instead, Suga stepped in in a desperate attempt to dissolve the bad mood.

“Tsukishima-sama, if you want, you can drink with us, too”, Suga asked, trying to sound cheerful but Yamaguchi didn’t miss the slight shaking in his voice. “Got this from the shady merchant, you know, the one selling bore snouts and hare foots behind the church ‘n such…”

“No thanks”, Tsukishima eventually responded, and for half a second Yamaguchi feared that Tsukishima would throw both Yamaguchi and his friends out of his property, but then the master turned around to go back into the hut without another spare word. _He’d probably only heard the ruckus_ Yamaguchi thought, turning his attention towards Yachi who looked at the door with a much too sad expression.

 “Don’t let it get to you”, Yamaguchi tried to soothe Yachi, but there was probably too much left of their mutual past for the girl to swipe that off so easily.

“Yeah, he’s right!”, Suga stated, once again trying to sound cheerfully. “Come on, let’s get drunk and forget about it, okay?” He waved the bottle, and this time, Yachi could nothing but smile faintly about the nice guy who tried his best to lighten up her mood.

 

*

 

Four hours later, when the moon stood bright and luminous above their heads the unusual trio sat on the wooden porch’s edge, feet dangling down, watching the moon and the forest’s wildlife while Suga slowly poured the last remains of his bubbly, purple wine into their glasses.

“So, I said to this guy, ‘Sir’ I said, ‘I’m sorry, but it’s not called bare hide, but bear hide’, and he just flipped me off and ran to the tailor up the street to annoy him with the same shit.”

“He hadn't!”, Yachi exclaimed with a high-pitched giggle, and her bright laugh was what made even Yamaguchi laugh about Suga’s rather boring story. _This and the booze, of course._ Whatever Suga had bought from the shady merchant – his name was Tendou, if Yamaguchi remembered correctly – was clearly no ordinary wine.

“I swear to god he did!”, Suga replied, and Yamaguchi leaned backwards to not topple over, eyes filled with tears coming from all the laughing while his lung felt as if it was cramping. “And Daichi had almost killed him when he came lurching back to bother me.”

“There’s no way Akaashi-san would stand up for me like this”, Yachi tried to choke out between fits of giggling, and Yamaguchi felt somewhat reminded of his own master.

“Hey”, Yamaguchi said after taking a small sip from his glass, “Where do you two know each other from, anyways?”

“Me and Hitoka?”, Suga asked while the girl tried to catch her breath, tried to wash down a cough with her booze, “I made her latest weapon!”

“You actually forged something?”, Yamaguchi asked, and Suga showed him a pout. “I thought your job’s to gawk at Daichi’s ass.”

“Like I am!”, Suga yelped, pushing his elbow into Yamaguchi’s side, eliciting a laugh from both Yamaguchi and Yachi. “I can forge things, if I want to.”

“What’s your current level?”, Yamaguchi asked, taking another sip from his much too sweet wine.

“Eighteen and a half”, Suga exclaimed proudly, and Yachi gave him an acknowledging look. “And you?”

“Me?”, Yamaguchi asked, a tiny bit too self-aware to actually brag about his newest achievement. “Err... Level… 20?”

“What?”, Suga said, the wine making him both too loud and too excitable, but Yamaguchi thought that only benefitted his kind personality. “Why haven’t you said anything? I would’ve brought another bottle!”

“One’s enough, I guess”, Yamaguchi responded with a broad smirk, leaning further forward to look at Yachi. “And you? Which Level are you?”

Yachi’s expression faltered just the slightest.

“... Level nine”, she eventually said, fingernails scratching over the wooden porches’ surface. “I know, pretty lame –“

“And as an archer?”, Yamaguchi intervened, and Yachi glanced at him, questioning.

“Level… 14”, she answered, seeming to get what he was pointing at, and her mood seemed to lighten up.

“Makes 23 for me, so, no need to be sad”, Suga said comfortingly, giving Yachi the last sip out of the wine bottle, leaning backwards after to safely place the bottle a good deal away from the porches’ edge.

“Yeah, I guess”, she said, showing a sweet smile, then her attention turned towards Yamaguchi again. “Have you decided for another skill yet?”

“Not quite”, Yamaguchi gave back, “I thought about the Immobilize Shot, but… I’m kinda unsure.”

“Ah, dunno if that’s any help, but I always thought of Quick Draw being my best ability”, Yachi stated, and Yamaguchi raised her an eyebrow.

“Quick Draw?”, he asked, remembering that this had been indeed a skill on one of the first pages of his skill book. “Hadn't really give a thought about that one…”

“Are you serious?”, Yachi shouted a bit too loud and lowered her voice when she noticed a few owls leaving their nests to search for somewhere a bit quieter. “Being able to shot twice the amount of arrows in half the time is awesome, to say the least! You should really give it a thought.”

“Yeah I will”, Yamaguchi answered, wondering if he had indeed undervalued the low-level abilities in favor of the much cooler one’s in the back of the book. “You know, I think I’ll chose Quick Draw”, he added after another moment, and the proud smile Yachi showed the two boys was pure gold, “Thanks, Yachi-san.”

“No need”, she said, waving her hand but blushing from ear to ear nonetheless. “Tsukishima-sama proposed that I should use it for my first skill back then, and it had paid off a thousandfold.”

“Yeah, he’s got a pretty neat eye for his student’s merit’s”, Yamaguchi stated without giving the statement another thought, hoping it wouldn’t upset Yachi too much, hearing Tsukishima’s apprentice actually praising him. “I – I mean, he helped me, too, at times.”

“You seem to get along very well”, Yachi said with a calm smile, and Yamaguchi could see Suga waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, not well enough for _his_ taste”, Suga pointed out, and Yachi chuckled while Yamaguchi buried his face in his hands.

“Oi, shut up, Suga!”, Yamaguchi groaned through his fingers, hoping that only the animals could hear it – and hoping Tsukishima wasn’t able to actually talk with the forest’s fauna. Yamaguchi let his hands fall down again, savoring the mild summer night’s breeze while Suga and Yachi chuckled over something Suga had said. Yamaguchi turned around to check if the light inside Tsukishima’s room was still lit, but instead he was greeted by his master himself who had silently snuck up behind them, standing in the doorframe with crossed arms and tired eyes, but a somewhat fond smile on his lips. After a while he noticed that Yamaguchi had discovered him, and the smaller one tilted his head invitingly, motioning him to join their funny rant, to talk and laugh and drink with them to forget their sorrows for at least one Night. Tsukishima almost seemed to give it a thought, but then the blond shook his head, bid Yamaguchi a good night with a small nod and silently left the porch once again a moment later.

Yamaguchi sighed.

“Hey, what’s wrong, mopey-face?”, Suga asked, his voice just the slightest bit slurred when his big brown eyes gave Yamaguchi a questioning look. The archer took a long sip from his glass, pondered over how he could ask the other two about what was bothering him without really giving out too much of Tsukishima’s secret illness. 

“Let’s…”, he began, choosing his words slowly, “Let’s _pretend_ there’s a sickness, and – and it’s not one you can cure with potions, how… how would you cure it?”

“If the sickness we’re talking about is love, then there’s no cure for it”, Suga expressed sugary-sweet with a chuckle afterwards, and Yamaguchi blushed, feeling the warmth both induced by alcohol and his ridiculous crush creep into his face.

“No it’s not”, Yamaguchi mumbled, grasping his glass even tighter.

“You could try the mages”, Yachi intervened, and this time Yamaguchi’s ears perked up. “There’s a spell for literally everything. …E-except love, I guess.”

“Don’t support this dork even more, Yachi-san!”, Yamaguchi whined while Suga almost toppled over, and Yachi had to quickly snap the glass out of his hands for it to not fall down into the shadows below their stilted hut.

_The Mages, huh?_


	16. Chapter 16

A loud pang let Yamaguchi jolt up, being ripped straight out of a deep slumber and a rather kinky dream about getting drunk and kinda handsy with Tsukishima. His head felt heavy, still too much intoxicated by the wine Suga had brought, and Yamaguchi swore inwardly to never drink something coming from a shady back-alley merchant, ever again.

Another two pangs made Yamaguchi jump out of his bed, realizing that the noise came from the front door. Yawning and sorting his nightwear he walked through the kitchen, the corridor and towards their front door, and he opened it before the unknown perpetrator could get another chance to cause even more noise.

“Yama –“, the nightly intruder blurted out, and in the bright moonlight Yamaguchi could identify him as Sugawara, panting and sweating and clutching the shirt above his heart while he wore the most frightened expression. “Yama – it’s – it’s Daichi, he’s –“

“Suga, calm down”, Yamaguchi tried to intervene, holding Suga by the shoulders to steady him, but the smaller one shook his head persistently.

“Come with me, please – Daichi, he’s – it’s –“

“Who’s causing such a noise in the middle of the night?”, a silent voice demanded to know, and a moment later Tsukishima walked towards the two younger boys, eyeing Suga precariously.

“Tsukishima-sama!”, Suga nothing but shouted, making the taller one flinch just the slightest. “You have to help – come, please, Daichi-san, I… I cannot explain, but you have to see –“

Tsukishima watched Sugawara with a questioning glance, but then – and Yamaguchi was sure that literally no one except him would’ve noticed it – his pupils dilated just the slightest bit, and his neutral expression gave way for something else, something grave, something Yamaguchi could only recognize because he knew Tsukishima for quite a while now.

Fear.

The master obviously wanted to state something when Yamaguchi spoke first, cutting off his master’s words.

“I come with you”, Yamaguchi stated firmly, knowing that there was no way Tsukishima would walk out the door in the middle of the frickin’ night with such a poor eyesight, not to mention that he wouldn’t probably be of any help with whatever Suga needs help with.

“Yeah, let’s go, quick!”, Suga said, taking Yamaguchi by his wrist and pulling him behind. Yamaguchi looked backwards to his master for a short moment, and Tsukishima seemed as if he wasn’t sure what to say.

“…don’t be loud when you come back”, the master said calmly before Yamaguchi was out of sight, with a intonation that totally sounded like a weird kind of comfort, and Yamaguchi’s heart leapt into his throat, hearing something just like worry coming out his master’s mouth. Weren’t it for Suga’s severe, almost frightened expression Yamaguchi would’ve turned around and wrangled Tsukishima back into the house, back into his bed to make him say it properly, again and again.

Yamaguchi let himself draw behind the whole way back to the smith’s home, with no words spoken, and Yamaguchi felt his heart pound heavy against his chest by the way Suga’s fingers shivered around his wrist.

“It’s – there, down the hallway, come”, Suga said breathlessly, walking through the door and down the hallway, with Yamaguchi following him, trying to make no noises at all.

“Care to tell what this’s all about?”, Yamaguchi whispered, following Suga to a door that most probably lead down into the basement, and Suga stopped in his tracks. He wanted to reply something, when suddenly a loud growl echoed through the whole house, making the walls shake and the kitchen’s dishware clink.

“That’s… why we’re here”, Suga admitted, slowly pressing down the doors handle.

“What the fuck was that?”, Yamaguchi asked, feeling his heart beat even faster while Suga tried to steady his hands.

“Daichi… he hadn't come home”, Suga blabbered in a haze, under his breath, “I mean, he’s not come to _his_ home – _here_! – W-we don’t live together, but… I went here to look about his wellbeing, though he hadn't been there, just…”

“Just what?”, Yamaguchi asked, realizing that whatever caused the smith’s absence had to do something with the ear-shackling groans coming out of the basement. “Suga, what’s down there?”

“See for yourself, I’d almost pissed my pants when I was alone”, Suga exclaimed, eyes hazy, shoving Yamaguchi frontward so that the brunet walked down the stairs first. “This – it’s loud, and frightening, but I don’t think it’s aggressive, for now.”

Yamaguchi walked down, down into the eerie darkness, groping in the dark with only his feet until he could make out a faint candle light, setting the large basement in an even more gloomy mood.

“It’s more like it’s in pain, I guess”, Suga said, nodding towards something in the darkness, and then, when Yamaguchi’s eyes began to adjust, the archer noticed it; a huge, fuzzy creature, looking like something half-wolf-half-bear, eyes closed and body curled inwards as if it was indeed in pain. It groaned, loudly, like someone who snores at an obnoxious volume, and slowly Yamaguchi approached it even further, cautious, to not startle it.

“Daichi’s not here, but this – this beast is”, Suga said with a high pitch, and Yamaguchi could hear that the other one was trying to contain a sob. “Yamaguchi, I’m so – where’s he? Why’s this _thing_ here?”

“Is it sleeping?”, Yamaguchi said, more to himself than to Suga, and absently he reached out to touch it, wanting to know if it feels as fuzzy as it looks. A loud groan made Yamaguchi yelp, surprised and a tad bit frightened even though he had become used to the forest’s even more gruesome wildlife, deep down where the forest is the thickest, were the monsters are the biggest, about which Tsukishima had told him gruesome stories to keep Yamaguchi from roaming around on his own – and then it dawned him.

“Suga”, he said precariously, backing away. “Suga, this – beast, it’s – I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“What?” Suga sobbed, and when Yamaguchi briefly turned around to peek at him he could see tears staining the other one’s cheeks, obviously so much terrified that something had happened to his dear master that he didn’t care at all about his overflowing emotions. “Yamaguchi, what is this? Where’s –“

“It’s a werewolf”, Yamaguchi explained, turning towards the beast once again, and Suga’s sobbing stopped immediately. “Suga, this –“

“D-Daichi?” Suga’s voice was husk, hollow, and Yamaguchi could hear his footsteps behind his back. “That’s…?”

“Yeah.”

Yamaguchi stopped, watched Suga as the silver-haired man approached the beast, with tear-stained cheeks and wide eyes, flinching when the beast growled once again. He tried to reach out for the beast, as Yamaguchi had done earlier, but now Yamaguchi sensed that the beast was more aware of their presence than before – the presence of sweet, feisty flesh to stuff its hungry stomach with.

“Suga, don’t…”, Yamaguchi said, voice trembling when the beast moved, its big paws’ claws come out their fuzzy holdings, but Suga didn’t move back, instead he was almost touching the beast whose eyelids twitched dangerously. “Come back here, that’s dangerous, he’s – Suga!!”

Yamaguchi felt glued to the spot, just by now noticing that he had left his home without any fucking weapon to use, and all he could do was watch the beast come to life, its dark, cat-like eyes flicking open, claws extended in the mere blink of an eye, and with an ear-shattering roar the monster was above Suga, burying him under his massive, furry body. Yamaguchi backed away again, trying to hide inside the staircase’s shadows, whimpering and not entirely knowing what to do in a situation like this, watching as the beast examined its prey.

“Daichi!”, Suga choked out from below the beast’s massive paws, struggling for air while he tried to lift a sharp claw out of his shoulder, “D-Daichi, it’s me! It’s – _aargh_ , it’s me, Koushi!”

The beast sniffed, lowered its nose, and for a split second Yamaguchi was absolutely sure that he would witness his friend’s immediate death. But then the beast fell silent, as if something had startled it, as if something inside its vicinity seemed to have caught its attention. As if Suga’s presence had triggered something inside the beast that made it aware of its surroundings.

“Daichi”, Suga tried once again, and Yamaguchi noticed that he made an attempt to softly caress the beast’s fuzzy front leg with shivering hands, more tears wailing up behind his eyes both from the pain and the realization that this beast was indeed his beloved master. “Dai – I’m here, it’s okay, please…”, Suga said, as softly as he was able to, “It’s okay, we – we can work through this, we’ll think of something, okay? Listen to me, Daichi…!”

The beast drew his paws back, claws sliding back and out of Suga’s shoulder, the silver-haired giving out a pained yelp when he tried to sit back up again while the beast eyed him precariously.

“Ya-Yamaguchi, look, he’s –“, Suga expressed, smiling, crying and sniffling back a sob at the same time when the beast settled itself before him like a tamed lap dog. “You’re inside there somewhere, aren’t you, Daichi?”

“Suga, I don’t know if –“

“Yeah but – j-just look at him, he heard me”, Suga intervened, softly stroking the beast’s front paw.

“You wanted to know his secret”, Yamaguchi mumbled, wondering who else might have known about what the smith hid so well right before their eyes. “There you have it,”

They both stood silent for a while, and flinched only when the beast made another move, slowly sinking down next to Suga, once again curling itself into a ball while growling quietly. Suga, though obviously afraid and irritated nestled himself next to the beast, and Yamaguchi was mildly surprised by the way Suga cared for his master, the one he adores so much that he was able to overlook that the smith had hidden such a grave secret. Yamaguchi wondered if he himself would be able to care for his own master like that, too.

Then he remembered how much of an odyssey he’d already gone through for Tsukishima, and that it had yet to continue if it weren’t for the even more urgent situation at hand. And most definitely, he would do even more for Tsukishima, even if one day the master would turn out to be an ogre or such.

_I’m so pathetic._

Restraining himself from rolling his eyes Yamaguchi continued watching the odd couple, with his back sinking a bit deeper down the staircase, tension leaving his body the more time passed. Yamaguchi still felt the prickly purplish wine’s effects after all these hours and the rush of adrenaline running through his body, and somehow it pleasantly calmed his nerves, now that Suga and the beast seemed to be sunken into a light slumber. And slowly, absentmindedly, with his thoughts encircling around Tsukishima Yamaguchi fell into a dreamless sleep, too.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! I was working on [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11962836/chapters/27050886) and was so hyper occupied with writing the first few chapters that I had to delay this fic a bit...! (o_ _)o

Yamaguchi woke up at six in the morning, with a terribly painful back and a numb butt, but pleasantly surprised that the odd couple in front of him was still sleeping, with Daichi snoring noisily – and Yamaguchi, recalling last night’s events, was glad that the smith had become his old self the moment the moon had vanished behind the horizon. That Daichi was wearing nothing but his birthday suit made Yamaguchi slightly uncomfortable, and thanking Tsukishima inwardly for suggesting that he should invest at least one skill point in the Nightstalker Ability he searched the basement until he’d found a blanket, gently wrapping it around the knocked-out smith and his apprentice, the latter curled into his master’s tight embrace, their finger’s gently intertwined. Yamaguchi sighed, enjoyed the sight for a moment, until the intensifying sensation of a sore butt and back making him decide he’d just leave them be for now, walk home and flop back into his cozy, warm bedsheets.

Yamaguchi snuck out of the basement, scribbled a quick note for Suga onto some paper and pinned it on the inside of the entrance door, then he left the house and wandered home through the summer morning’s chilly breeze.

Wishing for the ability to grow wings he dragged his exhausted body up the stairs, ladders and wobbly walkways, and opened the house’s wooden door as quietly as possible. When he was about to make his way past the tiny makeshift living room he saw something that made him smile sillily; Tsukishima sat there, in the old, checkered armchair clothed in only light pants and a loose shirt, snoring lightly with his head propped onto his fist. A blanket was thrown halfway over his legs, dangerously close to falling down onto the floor. If Yamaguchi hadn't known better he’d guess that Tsukishima was waiting for him to come back home safely, and something about that thought made his lung constrict heavily.

“Hey”, Yamaguchi cooed softly, hesitantly patting Tsukishima’s shoulder. “Hey Tsukki, time to wake up.”

“Go ‘way”, the master mumbled, and Yamaguchi could not keep himself from grinning from the way Tsukishima’s voice sounded, slurred, tired, and without any notion of malice. _Just like a child._ “Wanna sleep.”

“You can sleep”, Yamaguchi said, and he decided to use this moment to his advantage, at least a tiny bit. He reached out, slowly, as if Tsukishima was about to transform into a monster any moment – not the most unbelievable scenario to think of – and brushed over his master’s cheek, gently, trying to not wake him up too harshly. “But you should do it in your bed, Tsukki.”

Gradually, Tsukishima seemed to wake out of his slumber, blinking a few times, and Yamaguchi withdrew his hand, palm feeling as if it had been electrocuted.

“Sorry”, the master said lowly, brushing his palms over his eyes and cheeks, slowly sitting up a bit more, the blanket sliding down on the floor. Yamaguchi couldn’t explain from where he took the courage to speak the next few, stuttered words.

“Did you, uhm… wait… for me?”

Yamaguchi nervously waited for Tsukishima to let out a yawn.

“Of course not”, he said, brusque, thin eyebrows raised just a bit, and Yamaguchi felt his already crippling confidence go down the drain. Though the way how unstressed Tsukishima spoke made Yamaguchi wonder if this had just been a mere act of defensiveness or indeed the truth. “I was reading a book and had dozen off.”

“Oh, o-okay”, he stuttered, feeling a blush creeping into his cheeks, “I was just – I mean, I…” Yamaguchi’s brain short-circuited, and he bowed down a bit without thinking about his motions. With a swift, startled motion he turned around and escaped out of Tsukishima’s sight, when the blond’s voice echoed through their home, making Yamaguchi halt his steps.

“But… I’m glad you’re home safe.”

Yamaguchi turned around, seeing Tsukishima stand up and grab for the blanket. Curiously enough there was no book to be seen anywhere near Tsukishima, and that made Yamaguchi show a wobbly smile.

“Have you… found out about the smith’s… condition?”, Tsukishima asked almost casually, and Yamaguchi's ears perked up.

“Y-yeah I… have… do _you_ know about it?”, the apprentice asked, and a heavy silence lay between them, each of them assessing what the other one might know. Eventually Tsukishima broke the silence.

“We know about his illness”, the master said, “Akaashi-san and me. We promised to not tell anyone about it.”

“Akaashi-san… the fencer? What’s he got to do with it?”

Tsukishima took his time to neatly fold the blanket, laying it back on top of the armchair. “Akaashi-san got here the same time as me, back then”, he explained, “and he and Daichi had conversed quite frequently – not uncommon for a smith and a fencer, I’d say. We’d… met sometimes, talked and enjoyed each other’s silence, Akaashi and me, I mean. But when Bokuto-kun came into town Akaashi became pretty occupied with keeping him from… well, dying, mostly.”

“You never told me”, Yamaguchi said, pouting slightly, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy about the fact that Tsukishima had indeed something like friend’s around town.

“I could say that you’ve never asked”, Tsukishima said with a smug expression, suppressing a yawn and scratching his neck.

“Well, I’m asking you now”, Yamaguchi replied, and he felt one of his heart’s vessels pop when Tsukishima showed him an appreciative smile. Tsukishima turned around, peeked out of the window shortly.

“I guess you hadn't had the chance to take a proper night’s rest, though”, the master said, “Would you mind giving us both some time to rest in an actual bed? I’m much more inclined to tell you about it when I don’t feel like I’d slept under a golem.”

“Yeah, okay”, Yamaguchi said, trying to not show the ecstatic joy he felt because he’d just won a fucking fight against always-has-the-final-say-Tsukishima. “I feel like shit, too.”

“Then”, Tsukishima said, suppressing a yawn, “good night, Tadashi.”

“Good night, Tsukishima-sama”, Yamaguchi replied, suddenly very aware of the tired heaviness that tried to shut his eyes close and brain off, “And… thanks, for not waiting for me.”

Yamaguchi turned around, fast enough to not see Tsukishima’s expression. And oh, how he should have waited, then he would have seen the gentle smirk Tsukishima wore before he set off to go to bed, himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk to me on [Tumblr](https://ira158.tumblr.com/) if you like! (づ￣ ³￣)づ


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently I re-play Harvest Moon for the umpteenth time, and I have the tendency to buy a bazillion sheep. Currently the first three're called Suga, Daichi and Asahi (｡ >艸<)

Yamaguchi hadn't been aware that there had been actual mages around town until the night when the old, holey tower high up the hill behind some tall, forested hills stood highly aflame. Whatever had happened, there was no trace of a fire at all the next day, and the tower looked the same as it was before. Nobody in town even mentioned the night’s odd events, Yamaguchi only overheard two old ladies talking about the mages and their nearly-to-none benefit towards the town’s development. Everyone kind of hated the mages. Even though the guild had gotten two new apprentices a short while ago they were rather secluded, rather wry, and not entirely open for visitors.

The latter Yamaguchi had to learn the hard way.

This morning he woke up with a start, eager to talk with Tsukishima about last night’s insights, but the master was gone, off to stroll through some woods before Yamaguchi even had the chance to talk with him. If the master had done this on purpose or just for some stress relieve was something Yamaguchi could not quite assess. Asking himself what to do with the leftover time he remembered Yachi’s suggestion from yesterday to ask the mages about some kind of cure for Tsukishima’s eyes.

Therefore he made his way through the forest, crossed a bridge and wandered through a valley until the mage’s tower was only a stone’s throw away, when suddenly a loud bang right next to his foot almost deafened him. He tripped over his feet, stumbled a few meters, and another bang echoed through the valley. Yamaguchi squeaked and fell onto his knees, trying to catch his breath and waiting for his hearing to come back. When he looked around, searching for the cause of the explosions he took note of some fine, semitransparent lines, spherical and with rune-like symbols drawn into them. Must be fire runes he thought, frantically trying to remember the few things he’d read about magic runes, typically used as a kind of trap to fend off intruders.

That the mages wanted to be left alone to such an extent made the hair in Yamaguchi’s neck frill uncomfortably. He struggled to get back up on his feet, looked around for any other rune’s, and found some thin, red lines just two and a half meters away. Carefully he sat one foot after the other, keeping an eye on the lines, when suddenly another bang erupted on his left side, this time not hot but freezing cold, and once again he tumbled and came to a halt just a horse’s hair away from the red lines. Swearing inwardly he made his way through the scattered runes, wondering what might await him inside the tower, if the outside’s already as hostile as this.

He dragged his half-burned-half-frozen body up the stairs, and knocked two times before the huge wooden door swung open with a creak. Two pairs of eyes watched him, obviously surprised, and Yamaguchi entered the tower with hesitant steps.

“I – I’m searching for the mages”, he stuttered, his voice echoing through the huge stone tower that looked way smaller from the outside.

“Congrats, you’ve found them”, one of the boys – men? –, the smaller one, replied. Yamaguchi took note of his bored eyes and his black hair, neatly parted in the center. He was holding a wet mop and swept boredly over the stony floor tiles. The other one – taller, with a hairstyle that weirdly resembled a shallot – looked at Yamaguchi in question, eyed him precariously, but remained silent.

“Are you two… mages?”, Yamaguchi asked, uneasiness crouching through his bones when the two boys didn’t seem to be fond of giving out information.

“No”, the indifferent one answered, “house elves. See the mop?”

“Kumini, don’t be like this”, the other one said, giving Yamaguchi a lopsided smile. “Sorry, but you’re literally the first visitor in ages.”

“What a surprise”, the one named Kunimi sighed sarcastically, turning his back towards Yamaguchi, returning to his completely useless job to scrub the floors. Yamaguchi could not tell if the boy was always like this, or if being a mage’s apprentice exhausted him way more than he’d anticipated. Yamaguchi wanted to ask them about his endeavor when he noticed the taller one’s worrisome glance down Yamaguchi’s body.

“So-sorry but, did you get into some firestorm lately?”, he asked, and for a short second Yamaguchi’s couldn’t quite get his question until he looked down, suddenly realizing that his shirt’s fringe was still smoldering, and his hand was dusted with dark coal-like stains.

“There were fire runes out there”, Yamaguchi explained briefly, trying to scrub off the black marks and hissing when he brushed harshly over some burnt skin. “A-and some frost runes, too.”

“That could have been me”, Kunimi said, unfazed, and Yamaguchi could see the other mage showing an apologetic smile in his stead.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”, the taller one asked, reaching out for Yamaguchi’s arm, and the archer flinched when the mage touched the burnt skin. “Ah, okay, wait a moment.”

A glooming light began to build around the mage’s hands, and within a few seconds the wound began to shrink, and was gone a moment later.

“I’m a conjurer”, the tall one said as if that would really explain something for Yamaguchi, “the name’s Kindaichi, by the way. And that…” he nodded to his moping friend, “Is Kunimi, a black mage-to-be.”

“I _am_ already a black mage”, Kunimi remarked from the background. “I… just lack focus.”

“Yeah sure”, Kindaichi said, ignoring the snort Kunimi let out and turning back to Yamaguchi. “Well, what do you need? I’m glad to help.”

“Ah yeah”, Yamaguchi said, his actual task forgotten for a moment. “Is there someone I could ask for a… difficult magical favor?”

Kindaichi cocked and eyebrow. “Yeah, our master’s upstairs, you should probably talk to him.”

“Don’t be disappointed when he’s not helpful at all”, Kunimi said when Yamaguchi was already walking up the stairs, and heard Kindaichi shush his fellow mage afterwards. Yamaguchi wondered if the burning tower a few days ago had also been Kunimi’s doing.

Wheezing and with his hands propped against his waist Yamaguchi took one huge staircase after another. _The tower’s definitely larger inside. Stupid mages and their enlargement spells._  He walked past some dusty storage rooms, some messy bedroom quarters, and something that looked like a cramped kitchen. Taking the fourth and the fifth staircase without seeing any other breathing soul (well, except the room with those motherfucking huge toads that tried to lick Yamaguchi) he wondered if the two apprentice mages might had played a trick on him. _Kunimi sure would, but Kindaichi seemed pretty nice…_

Yamaguchi opened another huge wooden door, one with fine carvings and creaking hinges, and finally saw someone sitting in a dark green chair, deeply sunken into studying a book on his lap, and only when Yamaguchi knocked softly at the door the man looked up.

“I – I’m sorry”, Yamaguchi said, bowing down slightly, startling when the door behind fell shut with a bang. “I didn’t know if I – I mean, I’m searching s-someone –“

“Calm down, kid”, the other one said, calmly, and Yamaguchi so, so hoped that he would be the master he was looking for. “We’re mages, not face eaters. Take a breath, and tell me what you want.”

“Oh, okay”, Yamaguchi blabbered, trying to calm his nerves. Why was he so nervous, anyway? Yeah right, b _ecause I want to do Tsukishima-sama a favor, and I can’t fuck this up._ “I wanted to ask you mages about a favor – I’ll pay, of course.”

“What about?” The mage stood up from his chair, sticking a finger between the pages he had just read, and Yamaguchi noticed that he was just about the same height as the other one. The archer wanted to tell about his problem, when some rustling and clattering distracted him. Another mage appeared from behind a curtain, and Yamaguchi could see a colorful, bubbling pot of sticky fluid on a stove behind him, tinting the half-alit room in some dark shades of green, red and violet.

“Oh, we have a guest!”, the new mage said, pompously, brushing a hand through his chocolate brown hair. “Why hadn't you told me, Iwa-chan?”

“Because you were busy with the mush you call a potion”, the one named Iwa said, and the pompous mage pouted.

“It’s supposed to look like this”, he said, stemming his hands onto his waist, “Why don’t you trust your master for once?”

“ _He’s_ the master?”, Yamaguchi blurted out, and while apparent master shot him a scandalous glance the other mage barked out a laugh.

“Yeah sadly”, he said, and showed Yamaguchi a smile, ignoring the other one’s whiny complaint. “That prickhead’s named Oikawa, and even though I don’t like it you should probably tell him your request, too. You can call me Iwaizumi.”

Yamaguchi nodded, and both mages stood silent while he stated his predicament regarding his master’s eyesight, and if they would happen to know about some kind of magical cure.

“I remember something that might help you”, Oikawa said with a smirk, “But it’ll cost. You know, magic water, herbs, frog legs –”

“I think I can manage that”, Yamaguchi said, trying to keep himself from showing a silly smile.

“Look at him, Iwa-chan”, Oikawa said, faking admiration, “He’d do so much for his master – why don’t you do such things for me?”

“Maybe because _his_ master really earns it?”, Iwaizumi said blandly, and Oikawa pouted again like a twelve year old. “I can beat you up until you’re blind, and look for a cure afterwards if you want.” _Obviously Iwaizumi’s yet another second in command that has to deal with his master’s unnerving antics_ Yamaguchi thought, remembering Akaashi and Bokuto (and, in the depths of his mind, himself and Tsukishima), and he chuckled quietly. Oikawa crept towards Iwaizumi, tried to touch his hair, but Iwaizumi slapped his hand away.

“Oh Iwa-chan, tell me”, Oikawa cooed, sultry, and Yamaguchi wondered if that was really a conversation he wanted to witness. “did you just cast a fire spell? Because my heart’s so –“

“Continue this thought and I shove this up your ass”, Iwaizumi replied, and raised the book in his hands.

“Oh”, Oikawa gave back, voice sounding gushy. Yamaguchi cringed, experiencing this gruesome argument, “I’d rather like something else up my –“

“Shut up, dipshit!”, Iwaizumi yapped, throwing his book at Oikawa who caught it mid-air with what seemed to be telekinesis. Iwaizumi saw Yamaguchi’s derailed face and blushed from ear to ear, turning to browse through the bookshelf’s contents to hide his embarrassment from the other ones.  

“I need a few days to prepare something”, Oikawa said to Yamaguchi, turning from seducing temptress to serious businessman in an instant. “I’ll contact you when it’s finished, okay, archer-chan?”

“O-okay”, Yamaguchi said, nestling with the skin next to his fingernails. “Then… I’ll be off. Thanks, Oikawa-san, Iwaizumi-san.”

He bid the two farewell, turned around and let the two mages continue their heated argument. _Given they actually argue when they're alone._ While Yamaguchi made his way down the stairs, already conceiving Tsukishima’s face and gracious thankfulness when Yamaguchi would present him the cure he slowly began to wonder if it was really the wisest idea to ask those peculiar mages for their help.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Whisper* Oikawa's class is arch mage and Iwa's a fire elementarist (∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want, come over to [Tumblr](https://ira158.tumblr.com/) and take a look at the pretty Tadashi I've drawn! I'm a teeny bit proud (please let me be, I'm a bit on edge lately), and it was the first time I've ever colored something with my tablet...!  
> The drawing's not related to this story, but I want to share a pretty Yams with y'all ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

“Thanks, Asahi-san.”

Yamaguchi took the King Dace the fisherman Asahi had caught him in return for a few coins, and stored it safely inside the depths his bag. The tall man, that looked way too old for his sheepish behavior, nodded, brushing his palm awkwardly over his neck.

“No problem”, he said, smiling coyly, “I had to travel a bit south, but it was an enjoyable task catching it.”

Yamaguchi thought about the remaining items on his list, mentally checking off the things he already had.

“Do you… happen to know where I can get some, eh – _insects_ , ‘n such?”, Yamaguchi asked, hoping that Asahi was a man of nature to such an extent that he maybe knew about other fauna-related things, too.

“Insects?”, Asahi asked, flinching when his boat was bumped by the one of the town’s other fisherman, Ennoshita, who unloaded today’s catch; a net full of flouncing fish and some mussels. Yamaguchi wondered if there would be mussel silk in it that Tsukishima could use for his bowstrings.

“Y-yeah, see, I have this list…” Yamaguchi briefly explained his task, and both fishermen looked over it. Ennoshita shook his head, apologized and returned to his duties, but Asahi seemed to remember something.

“Acutally, there’s a hut in the woods”, he began, and Ennoshita sighed, for whatever reason. “And there lives someone who could help you, I believe. If you’re an archer you’d probably walked past it a few times – if you’ve been in the deeper woods, though you probably shouldn’t… Because there’re monsters ‘n such, a-and you won't like to meet them though…” Asahi was rambling nervously, and Yamaguchi wondered how such a huge, manly-looking guy could be such a coward.

“I haven’t been there”, Yamaguchi confessed, “but I guess if you describe me how to get there I’ll find it.”

“Ah, it’s a bit tricky”, Asahi said, “it’s a witch’s hut, and they don’t like to be found easily.”

Yamaguchi refrained himself from pulling a pout when some slimy fish slipped over his feet, wretchedly gasping for air – _err, water._

“If you really want, you could try finding the huntsmen”, Ennoshita threw in, catching the fleeing fish, “but, honestly, I’d propose you’d just search for the hut yourselves, though.”

“W-why?”

“They’re… a bit quirky?” Ennoshita frowned with a pained smile, and something told Yamaguchi that the fisherman had told this out of personal experience.

“Well, who isn’t around here?”, Yamaguchi remarked, earning a smirk from Ennoshita.

“Right you are”, Asahi said, beginning to rummage through his bag as if he was remembering something. “But you could come in favor with them if you, let’s say, give them a gift or something like that.”

“And I propose you have such a gift?”, Yamaguchi said, cocking an eyebrow, and Asahi nodded pleasantly, tugging some wrapped-up something out of his bag.

“Here”, he said, shoving the something into Yamaguchi’s hands. It was cold to the touch, and square-shaped, like a book. _A frozen book?_ “Give this to the smaller one. I… owe him something.”

“Thanks”, Yamaguchi said, bidding the fishermen farewell, keeping himself from gagging when Ennoshita wrestles with some especially slippery fish, and quickly left the two to themselves.

Silently humming a song that stuck in his head for days Yamaguchi walked up to the marketplace, where he and Suga sat sometimes to discuss their current tasks. _Suga and his werewolf_ master he thought, and searched the wide place with its colorful stalls and silver-tongued merchants for his friend with the silverish hair, when his gaze fell onto a worn-out wooden shack that hadn't caught his attention until now. The displayed wares were of such a variety that Yamaguchi wondered if they would happen to have anything he needed for his master’s task. _Besides, my shirt’s still damaged from those frickin’ mages and their weird fire magic… Wonder if they've got some spare cloth..._

“What can I do for you?”, the merchant asked, suspiciously cheerful. He was a lot smaller than Yamaguchi, had ashen blond hair and thick eyebrows, and Yamaguchi believed he had never seen him once before.

“I-Is this – I don’t remember seeing you store before”, Yamaguchi said, and the other one cocked an eyebrow.

“You’re from the administration?”, he asked, taking a defensive stance, and Yamaguchi noticed how he gave a box below the counter a kick to hide it in the store’s shadows. “Sorry pal, but if you’re here to check my trade certificate then –“

“No, no!”, Yamaguchi exclaimed, waving his hands, and the smaller one eyed Yamaguchi precariously. “I’m an archer! A-and I saw your wares, and… I thought -  see…” He rummaged through his pockets and showed the merchant his list, with only a few items left that weren’t crossed out. “Do you happen to know where I can get something from this list?”

The merchant peeked down, still a bit defensive, and snatched the list from Yamaguchi’s hands.

“And you’re… not here because you want to ask me about… _certain_ illegal businesses?”, he asked then, and Yamaguchi wondered if asking the shady merchant had maybe been a bad idea. _The dubious guy named Tendou selling bore snouts and sparkling wine behind the church was already bad, but this one here…_

“No, trust me”, Yamaguchi answered, and was sure that someone from the administration would surely say something exactly like this, too. “I just want to find those things, but they’re kinda hard to come by…”

“This one”, the merchant said and pointed to the one that said ‘ _Scale from a Dragonsnout’_ , “I know a guy who could manage to get this for you. In return for a generous payment, of course.”

“Yeah, figured as much”, Yamaguchi sighed, thinking about all his pretty coin going down the drain for Tsukishima’s silly errands. _Stupid, pretty Tsukishima._ “And this – guy, you said? For whom should I look out for?”

“You won't find him”, the merchant said a bit cryptic, and looked around to check if someone was within hearing range. “But he finds you, if you happen to be in the right place, at the right time.”

“God, this town’s makin’ me sick sometimes”, Yamaguchi mumbled, and the merchant cocked an eyebrow. “No offense, but it seems as if I’m always busy with some kind of… quest, without any  break to take a breath for a while. Bring this, hunt that, fight those – you know, that kind.”

The small merchant snorted a laugh through his nose. “I know that, believe me”, he said, leaning down to lift a box onto the counter, searching for something. “I switched classes for about ten times, had to do so many stupid beginner tasks. Dunno how many rats I’ve killed.”

“Yeah I know that!”, Yamaguchi exhaled, and grinned when the merchant’s face relaxed finally. “Sorry, my name’s Yamaguchi.”

“Yaku”, the other introduced himself, “Glad to meet’cha. You've said you're and archer? I’ve heard the town’s other archer’s not so… _approachable_.”

“Everyone has happened to heard that, apparently”, Yamaguchi sighed and cursed the towns’ unalterable opinion of their sole local archer inwardly. _But now I’m here, and I’ll change their view on Tsukki, I swear –_

“Oh, didn’t want to offend you”, Yaku said, and stopped his rummaging for a moment, “I’ve only heard our respective guild masters had some kinda mutual past, so…”

“Mutual – what?” Yamaguchi frowned, and Yaku seemed to realize that he had said something he shouldn’t have said. “Who’s your guild’s master? What guild, anyways?” _Merchants have guilds?_

“You’ll meet him, and the guild soon enough”, Yaku said, and left it at that. Yamaguchi guessed that he wouldn’t get any more information out of the small merchant, in that matter.

“Could you… tell me where to find him, then?”, Yamaguchi probed, nervously shifting his weight between his feet and Yaku put the box back under the counter.

“Yeah sure”, he said, and leaned forward, as if he didn’t want any eavesdroppers. “At midnight, on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday you go down to where the smith lives – do you know where?”

“Yeah, I know him”, Yamaguchi answered, once again thinking about visiting Suga and Daichi sometimes to check if they’re alive and well. _Alive, mostly._ He hadn't heard from Suga since the incident, and felt a sudden spark of guilt that the only thing on his mind lately was that damn list of his.

“Yeah okay”, Yaku talked further, “from there – you know the cave system under the market? That leads to the sewers? Okay, there’s a door leading into it, a steel door just below the point we’re standing on right now. So, at midnight, you wait there, and when someone tells you that you’ve got nice shoelaces, you answer, ‘yeah, got them from the king’, okay?

Yamaguchi gawked at Yaku, dumbfounded. “Why shoelaces?”

“Don’t give it too much thought”, Yaku said, “Just answer the question like this, and they’ll let you in, okay? And, tell them I’ve sent you, if they happen to ask.”

Yamaguchi nodded, bid Yaku the merchant farewell and walked over the sunlit marketplace, a bit irritated not even remotely sure if approaching a merchant he had never seen before was such a good idea in the first place.

But, nonetheless, his thinning list of task had become a little bit longer right now, with two new places to visit, and a lot more pending questions to ask, solely to please his master; a guy of whom he knew hardly nothing about, except that he was the most gorgeous half-human Yamaguchi had ever seen. And, more importantly, for whom Yamaguchi had fallen so deep that he would do whatever was necessary to earn his trust, and maybe, his affection some day in the future.

Yamaguchi took a long breath, sorting his thoughts.

First, an detour back home, to grab provisions, to get rid of the slimy fish in his pocket and to observe Tsukishima by whatever the master was doing right now.

Then, the quirky huntsmen and the witch in the woods.

And third, the ominous person in the town’s sewers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone gets the reference? Shoelaces? Anyone? |ω･)و ̑̑༉  
> Yeah, this was basically just a transition for the next things to come, but yeah... next chapter'll be a bit more exciting, promise! (〃･ω･)ﾉ~☆･ﾟ+｡*ﾟ･.+


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've realized that we've already reached the last third of the story ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ But, don't be disappointed, the story's rated M for a reason ☆（*ゝω・*）ﾉ

“Oi, well, if he’s not here I’ll just –“

“No, no, in fact he’s living here, he’d gone to the market, I believe.”

Yamaguchi peeked around the corner, silently tried to listen to the conversation his master had with someone still unknown to Yamaguchi. The chocolate brown head of fluffy hair looked somehow familiar, though…

“But I can’t quite believe there’d be anything you can do for him, out of all people”, Tsukishima said, and Yamaguchi could hear the uptight undertone in his voice. The other man shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“You would be surprised, Tsukishima-kun”, the other one said, and the tiny hint of playfulness made something inside Yamaguchi’s memory tingle. _Was that…?_ “Maybe you should keep watch of your dear apprentice a bit more. He’s willing to do quite a lot for your ungrateful ass.”

“What does that even mean?”, Tsukishima scoffed, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. A bow with a loose tendon dangled over his shoulder, a simple, dull piece of wood without any of Tsukishima’s usual fine carvings, and Yamaguchi could only guess that the master was in the middle of processing it. Finally recognizing the visitor’s look and unmistakable attitude Yamaguchi jumped forward, and took the last steps out onto the clearing in a haze, determined to keep Tsukishima from discovering what Yamaguchi had requested from the mages.

“Good afternoon, Oikawa-sama”, Yamaguchi said politely, albeit a bit out of breath, and Tsukishima cocked an eyebrow.

“Yama-chan!”, Oikawa hummed, and turned around, a big, cheerful smile on his lips, “There you are! I was waiting for you – well, you _and_ my money, of course. I’m in desperate need for some lizard tails for my potion. Hm, I wonder –“

“Yeah, sure”, Yamaguchi blurted out, and tried to not appear as guilty as he felt. “T-tsukishima-sama, why don’t you return to your work and –“

“No”, the master said sternly, “I’m very inclined to hear what you’ve dealt with Oikawa-san.”

Yamaguchi sighed deeply, and Oikawa’s eyes darted quickly from the master to his student and back.

“Oh well, that’s how it is”, Oikawa cooed, and Yamaguchi feared for the worst. “Don’t worry, Tsukishima-san, I’m not here to take your precious apprentice away from you. I’ve already happen to have two excellent, err… well, _diligent_ students for myself.”

Tsukishima snorted, and Yamaguchi felt a sudden burst of heat crawl into his ears.

“Would you please come to the point and then leave for good, please?”, Tsukishima sneered, obviously very annoyed by Oikawa’s crude observations. Yamaguchi wondered if those two have had a mutual past, too, just like Tsukishima and Akaashi. _And the unknown master living in the sewers._   

“Oh, right”, Oikawa said, and pulled something out of his pocket – a vial, filled with a viscid, yellowish golden color, interspersed with tiny, gleaming particles emitting a flickering light. “As you've requested, Yamaguchi-kun. I promise, I gave it my all, and it won't fail your expectations – or, well, your master’s.”

“What does he mean by that?”, Tsukishima asked, and without answering or even looking at his master Yamaguchi fumbled his purse out of his pants’ pocket and payed the price Oikawa told him.

“Come by whenever you need something else, Yama-chan”, Oikawa hummed disgustingly sweet, and bid the archers farewell with a short wave, beaming with joy. When Yamaguchi looked back to his own master he wondered if it might have been a better idea to just follow Oikawa back to the mage's tower and let himself set on fire by Kunimi.

“Will you tell me what that is?”, Tsukishima asked, slowly, with as much containment as he could probably afford. “Why are you meddling with the mages?”

“Tsukishima-sama, don’t take this the wrong way”, Yamaguchi begged, and believed that no matter what he might tell, Tsukishima would take it the entirely wrong way, anyways. “I – I was at the mages to… well, you – you said –“

“Stop babbling, Yamaguchi”, Tsukishima demanded, and Yamaguchi flinched visibly. “Take a breath, and talk properly.”

“I only wanted to do you a favor”, Yamaguchi babbled nonetheless, and held the vial out for Tsukishima to grab. “This is… I thought - a-and I trust Oikawa when he says he’d managed to create something like this – it'll work, promise! I-it’s for your eyesight, Tsukishima-sama!” _Whoa, this is going so fucking wrong._

“What?” Tsukishima was shaking with rage, and snapped the vial out of Yamaguchi’s hand so fast the apprentice feared he would just shatter it into pieces immediately. “What have I told you about – who do you even think you are?” Tsukishima turned around, and ran his hand through his blond hair before approaching Yamaguchi again, towering over him, threatening, snarling. “Who do you believe you are for me? Meddling with my affairs, spreading around my secrets – what other secrets have you told the mages?”

“None!”, Yamaguchi blurted, and took a step back, intimidated by his master’s unveiled hatred. Never had he seen Tsukishima that angered, that emotional, that outright _furious_ , and Yamaguchi couldn’t say he liked that Tsukishima very much. “Do – do you even have any other? Secrets, I mean?”

“You’d wish to know!”, Tsukishima gave back, and clawed his nails into the vial’s glassy surface. Yamaguchi, feeling like some trigger had been turned, fastened his stand, and frowned.

“Yeah I do”, he admitted, and even though it must look like a bunny daring to provoke a lion Tsukishima’s angered mask crumbled, just for a second. “You – you’re always so secretive, and I want to know your secrets – err, not only your secrets! I want to know – everything about you! And I want you to talk to me, a-and trust me, at least for once!”

Tsukishima’s face fell, crumbled, and returned to its indifferent stance a moment later. Relaxing his muscles and the grip around the vial he looked at Yamaguchi, contemplative, frowning.

“But… why?”

For a tiny moment Yamaguchi imagined himself, approaching Tsukishima, gently laying his hand onto the master’s cheek. He would caress his skin, would kiss him tenderly, and would remain like this until Tsukishima would listen properly to what he has to say. But then, Yamaguchi blinked, and was back into the present.

“Because I care!”, he cried out, and took a step back, not forward. “Because I care for you, and you – you should care about me, too! A-about the way I care for you! You're ungrateful, and you give me this - this stupid tasks, a-and I follow them like a blind idiot, like - like... _God_ , I wish you'd realize for once how much you mean to me!”

Tsukishima remained silent, and Yamaguchi felt the tears welling from behind his eyes. This wasn't entirely what he'd wanted. Not only had he yelled at Tsukishima - at his master, and entrusted guide through this freaky world - additionally, and as easily as that he had nothing but confessed his undying adoration for Tsukishima. This was so goddamn going in the wrong direction. But, seriously, what had he expected? For Tsukishima being eternally grateful? For him to fall around Yamaguchi’s neck, to kiss him and thank him for the help? Maybe just for one, tiny flick of appreciation for his efforts?

Tsukishima gave him none of that, only a look, hurt, pained, and entirely repellent.

“Get out”, Tsukishima said, and Yamaguchi balled his hands into fists. “I… don’t want you to stay around here right now. Go, and leave me alone.”

“As if I would like to stay here with you”, Yamaguchi snapped, and without hesitation he turned around, away from the place he had called home for quite a while now, away from the person he adored so much, and for whom he had fallen so deeply, so far, that he would cross the realms of the devil himself if that would patch up this fucking shipwreck of a relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://ira158.tumblr.com/) if you like! ♡


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